


The Sun of Dorne

by Anonymous



Series: Elia Martell Fics [13]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Rhaegar Won, Elia Martell Lives, Elia Martell-centric, Heavy Angst, I went with show Lyanna who is an adult not book Lyanna, Lyanna Stark/Rhaegar Targaryen - Freeform, Multi, Not Lyanna Friendly, Not Rhaegar friendly, POV Elia Martell, This is mostly based on the TV show but has many elements from the books, Westerosi Politics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:13:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 50,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25225876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Elia Martell was born different.
Relationships: Elia Martell/Rhaegar Targaryen
Series: Elia Martell Fics [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1109001
Comments: 579
Kudos: 330
Collections: Anonymous





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello. It's me again.
> 
> This fic is not beta read.
> 
> Edit: I want to clarify something that is causing confusion in later chapters. This fic is mostly show based so I'm using show Lyanna who is an adult. Book Lyanna does not exist in this fic.

Prologue

Princess Loreza went into labour in the eigth month of her pregnancy. When she gave birth, they handed her a tiny infant, too small with skin that was translucent. Loreza knew this child would die and so she hardened her heart. Her husband Kwame, a prince from the Summer Islands, was hopeful. He brought the child's crib to their shared chamber and sang to it every day while the wet nurse fed the baby. Loreza had milk in her breasts, it leaked so often that she changed her clothes every few hours. Her breasts were swollen and they hurt but she would not feed the child. She fed Mors and Olyvar, loved them, held them for hours and they died in her arms. Loreza would not suffer the same way again. 

Princess of Dorne had much to do. Dorne was on the cursp of a famine, Myr and Lys were at war again, a grey plague swept through Braavos. Trade would be disrupted for a while. The Braavosi fleet was no longer patrolling their part of the Narrow Sea and piracy was thriving as a result. Loreza had to find food for her people, she had to find trading partners for her merchants and lords, she had to chose between Myr and Lys. She could do nothing for the infant. So, without much help from her husband, Loreza worked. She sent men to the cheesemongers and traders of Pentos, Volantis and Norvos; she received emissaries from Myr and from Lys; she sent food she could not afford to waste to Braavos to strengthen their friendship; then she wrote letters to the Vale. It was now winter in the lands north of Dorne but surely they can spare grain for Dorne. Then one day, Loreza realised the child was still alive even after two months. She had hoped that it would die while she was too busy to notice.

"Her name is Elia," Kwame said tiredly. "Elia of Dorne and the Summer Islands. She likes being sang to, she eats greedily, she has light in her eyes."

"She will die," Loreza scoffed, "like all the others. Mors, Olyvars, the ones who passed away in my womb. My love, you torture yourself. Haven't you had enough of grief."

Kwame looked at her sadly. "My mother, my father, all my brothers and most of my sisters. My friends perish at the Stepstones. I know grief, Loreza, I've known it my whole life. I miss them all every day but I am glad I knew them and I loved them. Even if their time on this earth was small, they were loved by me. They have made their mark in the living world through me."

At this Loreza wept. She cried so hard and for so long her head felt as though it had been split. When she opened her eyes, she saw her ladies, her steward and maester, her husband, all standing around her, trying to comfort her. Behind him, she saw the crib and she went to it. Elia looked like a child who had just been born. Every breath looked like it took effort, her skin was just starting to darken and she was only a little bigger than she had been the day she was born. Elia was awake and she looked at her mother with big dark eyes. Her mouth turned upward into a smile. Loreza picked her up and placed a kiss on her brow, cheeks, chin and eyes.

"Hello, little one," Loreza said. "My sun of Dorne." Elia gurgled and then she smiled again.

For one moment, Loreza was swept up in self loathing. How much of little Elia's life did she waste feeling sorry for herself? _What a precious child,_ Loreza thought, _may no one else fail to cherish you. May the gods cast them down if they do. Let her live, let her love and be loved. Let Doran have a sibling just this once. Please, please, please. You have made the Stranger a guest in my home too often. Give me this._

A huge gust of wind swept through Sunspear for a week. The sun seemed to darken. Waves the size of a house slammed against the coast of Dorne. Then it finally ended.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to write two large chapters of about 10-15k and then I realised it would take my forever to upload and I might lose the motivation to write so I'm posting it in small chapters so I can hopefully update frequently.
> 
> Not Beta read

Chapter 1

Elia stared out of the window. Maegor's Holdfast was richly furnished but it was still a prison. Aerys had taken every book away after Elia asked Pycelle for some children's books. It was a stupidly petty thing to do but Aerys couldn't be kingly on his best day. He ordered the kitchens to serve Elia only the blandest food. Then he put guards in front of her door to keep her from visiting the gardens. The washerwomen would return fewer and fewer gowns and some of Elia's jewels have been confiscated. Elia was mildly alarmed by his behaviour though she knew that as long as the Dornish army fought with Rhaegar, Aerys would not lay a finger on her. Without books and with her children asleep, Elia's only source of entertainment was the city. 

At that moment, Rhaegar's army was moving noisily to the Sept of Baelor to celebrate a hard won victory. Robert Baratheon was dead, the rebel leaders were probably in fetters being dragged through the streets for all to see. The smallfolks were cheering and dancing with the king's army. For a while they had been terrified of a possible seige but their beloved Rhaegar had returned victorious and the war was surely over. There were some Dornish banners flying, Elia could see, but they had lost their commander. Prince Lewyn had been struck down while the Dornish army tried to prevent the Vale army from retreating to the Bloody Gate. Aerys read Rhaegar's letter to her and he waited for tears to come so he could mock her but he got nothing. Elia liked to imagine it was a choice she made but she felt strangely detached from her emotions for a while now; ever since Rhaegar's last visit when he told her that he had taken the Stark girl as a wife. 

Elia could see Lannister banners, there were so numerous and they followed the king closely. Tywin Lannister had appeared out of nowhere at the Trident, at just the right time too. Rhaegar's forces were being obliterated and Robert had been gaining the upper hand in his duel against Rhaegar. When the Lannister army appeared, Robert lost focus long enough for Rhaegar to stab him in the eye. Elia had seen it all. She saw her uncle's death; she almost felt every blow to his body and she tried to hold him as he bled out. Years earlier she saw her mother close her eyes for the last time. Even earlier than that, she witnessed her father's passing in his homeland. It was cruel of the gods to give her the ability to See without giving her the ability to change what she was seeing but they have always been cruel to Elia. Sometimes she wondered why they allowed her to live for so long.

The Sept's doors were opening and the septons were spilling out to meet the king, his lords and knights. Elia breathed in deeply and she closed her eyes. When she opened them she was standing on the steps facing the city. None of them could see or hear her. In this form, Elia was light without any pain or weakness. She walked down the steps easily watching as the septons sprinkled holy water and oil at the men kneeling before. The High Septon shouted out a prayer, a simple prayer blessing their victory and the end of the war. A much larger ceremony would be planned later on and much later than that, many lords will arrive in the city to kneel to Rhaegar and beg forgiveness for fighting with their lord paramounts. Elia crouched down until she was within eye level with Lord Tywin, who had knelt down before the High Septon but wasn't reciting the prayer. Instead he was watching Rhaegar like a lion would watch a much bigger prey. Elia closed her eyes.

She opened them in her apartment. Nausea and dizziness hit her in full force as they always did whenever she used her Sight. Had she had a stronger body, she could See a lot more. Lately, she had lost her appetite and sometimes she would go days without eating much so she could only See for short periods of time. As soon as Rhaegar's army crossed into the Riverlands, Elia stuffed herself with food so she could See the whole battle. Her children's lives depended on it but that was days ago. She lost all her appetite; she felt numb with barely any interest in doing anything. The only thing pushing her to act was the knowledge that her children could only depend on her. There were very few Dornish people in the capital and none of them could enter the Red Keep to rescue her children. Doran had ordered his people to leave King's Landing and Dragonstone after Harrenhal. Before the war, Elia felt a rush of love for her brother for defending her and Dorne. Now she wished... what was the point of wishing and hoping? Elia remained a prisoner no matter.

She closed her eyes and opened them in the throne room. Only Jaime Lannister occupied the room. He knelt at the base of the throne and looked every bit a humble knight as Rhaegar and all the others entered. Clever boy.

"Rise, Ser Jaime," Rhaegar said. "Tell me true, what was the manner of my father's death?"

Jaime launched into a believable tale about the king's tale, exactly as Pycelle instructed him to. The boy knight had fled to Pycelle in near tears and confessed his crime. Pycelle wasted little time in acquiring wildfire. He poured it down the dead king's throat and down his chest while Jaime hunted down every witness. Rhaegar believed the lie. Beneath his performance of grief was relief; he never had the stomach to deal with his father. Elia pushed him, she begged and negotiated, she met with lords to try and bolster support for Rhaegar and all he ever did was crown another woman.

"Princess Elia and her children are well?" Rhaegar asked. As though he truly cared. Elia hated him.

Jaime nodded. "His Grace kept them in Maegor's Holdfast with guards to protect them in case.... He sent your mother to Dragonstone."

"At least he listened to me for once," Rhaegar said. He turned to Tywin Lannister. "Your son is a credit to your house, my lord."

Tywin smiled thinly. "Thank you, Your Grace." To his son, he said, "King Rhaegar and I discussed my reward for turning the tide of the war. You will be freed from your Kingsguard oaths and will be returned to me as my heir. I served King Aerys as Hand of the King for twenty years. I am honoured to be His Grace's Hand."

Jaime's face was blank as though he didn't know how to react. He bowed to Rhaegar and congratulated his father. Elia left them for the prisoners. Jon Arryn had a bruise that covered half his face and one of his eyes were shut. Hoster Tully stood tall and proud despite losing his right arm. Unlike those two, Eddard Stark was not in chains. He limped as he walked and he didn't have guards surrounding him. There were other prisoners, dozens of them- knights, lords, petty lords and a few ladies. The women weren't in chains and they seemed to be hostages. A few were openly scared, the rest seemed weary as though they were too tired to be scared or they were used to the fear.

"Take the women to Maegor's Holdfast. Send in servants to attend to them. This will be their new home," Rhaegar said. Elia hadn't noticed his approach and she instinctively recoiled. He walked through her to the prisoners. "Send them to the dungeons- not the Black Cells. I want them well treated, they all fought their best and I recognise they were only following orders. My lords," he said to the lord paramounts of the Vale, the Riverlands, and the North, "you will be taken to chambers befitting their status to rest. Tomorrow we shall talk about the future of Westeros."

Elia opened her eyes. She was lucky she had been sitting or she might have collapsed. Already she felt stupid for not eating well. She wouldn't be able to See most of their meeting tomorrow. At least when Aegon was still suckling, Elia had a reason to take care of herself. With Rhaella gone, Elia had no one except her children. It had been easy to stop caring.

The noise of tens of thousands cheering had finally woken her children up. They were at the very back of the apartment sleeping on the same bed. Elia had lined chairs and cabinets along the bed so none of them rolled off it and fell. Aegon opened one of his eyes and covered his ears. Rhaenys sat up suddenly and glared adorably before shoving her head under a pillow. Aegon hurried to copy his big sister, he always followed her lead. Elia wondered if she and Oberyn had been the same; she doubted it. She spent her childhood trying to keep up with her healthy younger brother and the other children at the Water Gardens. It hadn't been fair then and it wasn't fair now. Sometimes Elia felt like Mors and Olyvar were lucky ones; they died before they could spend a lifetime disappointed in their bodies. Other people felt disappointed in Elia's body too. For a while, she tried to love it in defiance but it was very difficult. She was so far from her home and her family and her detractors were so numerous... it was very difficult.

"What is that?" Rhaenys said from under her pillow.

"Stop it," Aegon demanded. "Stop it."

Elia moved one of the chair so she could sit on the bed. "I wish I could, sweetlings. I can't stop people from celebrating." 

Rhaenys made some irritated noises in response and Aegon imitated her. _I'm disappointing you too._ Some children take years to realise their parents aren't as powerful as they believe. Elia's children had learnt that very quickly. Aegon was only an infant when Aerys dragged Elia to King's Landing. Aerys hated Rhaenys for looking so Dornish and almost immediately started terrifying her by asking questions no child of any age could answer. Elia could live up to a thousand years and she would never forget the look in Rhaenys eyes as she screamed for her mother while Elia was too weak to act or even stand properly. Rhaella had rescued Rhaenys- a woman Elia had pitied previously- by grabbing the baby away from the king and walking away even as he screamed at her to come back.

Aegon crawled to her and buried his face in her neck. "Mama," he said when she kissed him. Elia poked Rhaenys' feet until her daughter was giggling too hard to bother sleeping. Elia's melancholy melted away briefly. Their lives were about to become difficult but for now, Elia felt as close to happy as she was going to get.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me what you guys think.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this in a few hours.
> 
> Again not beta read.

Chapter 2

No one came for Elia. She and her children remained prisoners, it was as though Aerys hadn't died. Maegor's Holdfast was louder now than it had been the previous day but only servants entered Elia's apartments. She could see the remaining Dornish army camped beside the Maidenvault but there were hundreds of soldiers from the Crownlands and Westernlands camped around them. The soldiers and knights didn't quite know why she was not coming to greet them but they were too exhausted and injured to worry about that. Elia would have shouted down for help but they were outnumbered. Eventually Tywin sent a false message to Ryon Allyrion, the heir to Godsgrace, claiming that Elia was under the care of Pycelle and that eventually, she would receive them properly. It made Elia furious but for now she had focus on Rhaegar. Once she knew what he was planning, she would send a secret message to the Dornishmen.

Lord Arryn had a quiet anger about him. Rhaegar didn't seem to notice. The king chose to speak his hostages separately. Elia hated him for it. She didn't have the strength to See every meeting in its entirety. Rhaegar had a habit of speaking in a circles and he took his time getting to the point. Elia used her Sight to learn when the meetings were meant to take place. After that, she had to guess when Rhaegar would get to the important part. She was not lucky with Arryn as Rhaegar spoke of his family, Jon Arryn's family, Aerys' death, the battle at the Trident. Elia's fifth time Seeing was finally fruitful.

"You killed the boy I raised and you expect me to kneel to you?" Arryn growled. "My nephew and cousin are dead."

"They died fighting a war," Rhaegar said as though Arryn was being silly. _At least I'm not the only person he spoke to like that,_ Elia thought. "I didn't kill them-"

"You started the war! You took Robert's betrothed, insulted his house and fought for your father. Aerys murdered two hundred men. He expected me to break guest right and hand him my foster sons." 

Rhaegar replied, "My father is dead. I cannot bring the dead back to life but I can give you your freedom."

"You expect me to believe you?" Arryn sneered.

"No harm will come to you or those under your protection. I swear this on my honor."

Arryn looked ready to spit. "What do you know about honor? You kidnapped Lyanna Stark and stood beside your father despite the atrocities he committed. Honour demanded that I protect Robert and Eddard. Robert fought to save the girl he was meant to meant to marry. Our soldiers were fighting a just and honorable war."

"And they lost. Robert is dead. Storm's End is surrounded. My father has died. It is over, Lord Arryn," Rhaegar said with a lot of sympathy. "Lord Rickard and Brandon's shades are at rest. The war is done and I am your king. Lyanna Stark will be your queen."

"What?" Arryn looked genuinely shocked.

"I did not kidnap her. She didn't want to marry Robert and she came with me willingly. She loves me and I love her. She is heavy with child but I have already sent for her. Any day now she will be in Red Keep."

"Your queen? What of your wife? A man cannot have two wives."

"I have only one wife. I married Lyanna before I took her maidenhead. With the High Septon's approval, I annulled my marriage to Elia."

Jon Arryn snorted. "Who will believe that? Who are your witnesses? What proof do you have that the Dornish woman strayed from your marriage bed? You've barely finished this war and you're already starting another. You expect the Martells to take this lightly? They have forty thousand men and a deep love for Princess Loreza and her children."

Rhaegar looked as though he hadn't considered that. "No one in court will object to the annulment."

"Not even Elia Martell? You expect her to allow you to turn her children into bastards. Who is their father if not you?"Arryn asked. "At least present him before the court." He looked at Rhaegar expecting an answer.

"That is not what we're discussing-"

"How did the High Septon leave King's Landing without your father noticing?"

Elia knew he hadn't left. Rhaegar had taken Septon Raynard with him with the assumption that he could convince the High Septon to lie. Varys had told her this though she still didn't know why.

"My father was preoccupied with Lord Tywin and all his imagined enemies. He was not a holy man and cared little about the Most Devout or the High Septon," Rhaegar answered easily. "Regardless, Lyanna is my wife. Robert's justification for the war was a lie."

"Robert fought because your father wanted his head. That is not a lie."

Rhaegar sighed. "My lord, I am trying to help you. I don't want to execute you and end your line. You have a young wife and the chance to sire a son. The war is done. For the sake of your people... for the sake of Lord Stark, kneel. The moment he learns about his sister and our marriage, he will accept me as his king and brother. I have dozens of your knights in the dungeons. Their lives and the fate of the Vale depends on you."

Arryn looked away. He was an old man and weary. Elia knew what his decision was going to be and she couldn't decide if it made her angry or relieved.

"The wrong man came back from the Trident," Arryn said in response.

Elia opened her eyes to find that her son was trying to pull her gown open. They were sitting together on the bed so there was little risk of Aegon falling.

"Aegon, I already fed you," she told him while holding him back. "Sara, your wet nurse, fed you too. How are you so hungry?"

Aegon started turning red as he tried to push her hands away. "Mama," he complained. "El! El!"

Elia laughed. "Are you trying to say my name? Are you trying to say Elia? That's very disrespectful Aegon. You can only call me mama."

Aegon was not amused. "Urgh," he said before biting down on her hand. When that didn't work, he slammed his small hand on the matress and began to kick his little legs. Before long he was throwing a tantrum.

"I already fed you," Elia said while she tried to wipe the tears off his face. "How are you hungry?" She looked around for Rhaenys and couldn't see her. "Rhaenys!"

"Mama," came the answering cry. Rhaenys came running into the room. Aegon was distracted for a moment at the sight of his favourite person in the world but he was soon back to whining. Elia gave in. The poor boy was going to be deprived on his birthright and name, why should she deny him milk? There was little milk in either of her breasts but it soothed her son.

Elia closed her eyes to see where Rhaegar was and she found him walking to Lord Stark's chambers. It took an hour for Elia to convince Rhaenys and Aegon to take a nap. They had just woken up after all. This meant that she missed quite a lot.

"... I assure you, Lord Stark, your sister is well protected and taken care of," Rhaegar was saying. "All I ask is that you don't dispute our marriage, for her sake and for our daughter."

Eddard Stark seemed drained of all emotion. He had lost two brothers, a father and a war in the span of a year. Elia didn't think there was any fight left in him.

"You have a wife and two children."

"As I have explained, my marriage with Elia is done. I don't want my daughter's legitimacy questioned. You and I both know she'll never be safe if that's the case but if you accept our marriage publicly, my enemies won't have anything to use against us."

Lord Stark turned his cold gaze from the wall to Rhaegar. "I'll only agree if you agree to leave the North alone."

"I am the king of Westeros, I can't leave one of my kingdoms alone."

"Don't come to Winterfell," Stark continued. "Don't... my people have had enough. You'll find no love there. I'll pay taxes and fines, I'll even allow one of your men to come on your behalf but you will remain south of the Neck."

Rhaegar took a while to answer. "Fine." Immediately Elia knew that he had no intention of staying out of the North.

"You will pardon Stannis and Renly. Robert made me pro- he told me to take of his brothers should he die."

Rhaegar nodded. "Only if they surrender. So far, they've refused."

"I'll talk to them. Stannis will listen to me. I need to bring Robert's body home for that."

"Of course. You should meet Lyanna first-"

"No," Stark said vehemently, "Storm's End is starving. I shan't waste any moment here." He became question for a long moment. Then he said,  
"My son... he'll be treated well."

Rhaegar answered, "He will be raised with his cousins. I give you my word that he will grow up without wanting for anything and I'll even allow him to visit Winterfell." Stark nodded though he looked to be in pain. Elia realise he was going to leave his son in King's Landing. She wondered what Lady Tully would feel when she hears about this. Elia hoped for murderous rage. 

When Elia opened her eyes, she felt sick. She rolled to the edge of the bed and vomited her lunch. Luckily she had anticipated that. While a maid wiped the floor clean, Elia ate the remaining half of her lunch. 

Only Lord Tully remained. He was the one Elia was most interested in. When she opened his eyes in his chamber, she saw him lying on a bed. His amputated arm had been freshly bandaged. Rhaegar was sitting beside his bed. Again Elia missed the beginning of the conversation and once again, she could tell what Lord Tully was going to do before he did it. He was still as defiant as before but it seemed that Rhaegar's terms were winning him over.

"Your daughters will leave for their new homes. Your son will be my page until he comes of age," Rhaegar said. "I am told by my advisers that I am being exceptionally soft-handed but I understand why you joined the war. I have no interest in further dividing Westeros."

"What else? Surely that can't be all," Hoster Tully said.

"I have not yet decided what to do but Dorne will be a problem. I can't send Elia back and I can't allow the children to become a threat to my children with Lyanna. I love them but I have chosen a new path and there can only be one line of succession."

Hoster Tully was a sharp man but he was confused. "How am I supposed to help with that?"

"You might marry Elia," Rhaegar said. Elia stared at him in shock. "She is a good woman, an adequate wife and she's very good at managing a household. You might even have a child together."

"Is she not barren? We assumed that was why you went after the Stark girl."

"Elia can have children, she just won't survive the birth," Rhaegar told him. "It's not set in stone yet but when it does happen, do I have your word that you'll treat her well?"

"I haven't agreed," Tully protested weakly. After a short silence, Tully said, "My wife was very happy with me. I made sure of it."

Rhaegar stood up. "I must leave, my lord. I have to speak to Elia and explain all of this to her."

Tully laughed. "I wish you luck."

Elia opened her eyes. For a long moment, she felt nothing and stared blankly at the wall. Then suddenly, rage roared through her body. It felt white hot in her veins. Around her, the room trembled. Everything within it shook and fell. Cracks appeared on the walls. The room seemed to get hotter.

"Mama!" One of her children shouted over the sounds of a vase falling.

Elia reigned in her anger. Her body was shaking, there were tears on her face. _How dare he?_ She thought as she looked at her terrified children. Hoster Tully put an entire village to sword as his first act as rebel. He would kill her and her children without hesitation.

"I won't allow it," she said out loud. Her anger threatened to overwhelm her again. "I swear I won't allow it."

The entire world would perish first. Distantly, she could hear the door to her apartment opening and people running in. Elia lowed her head and kissed the brows of her children. She knew what she going to do; kill Rhaegar and anyone who would harm her children.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me what you guys think.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> English is not my first language and this chapter is not beta read

Chapter 3

Elia was taken to new apartments. She was asleep when the shaking started, she told them, and she had no idea why there were cracks on the wall. Eventually, everyone decided that the room was old and likely bad constructed as Elia and her children walked to their new prison. Elia knew these men, Rhaegar's companions from Dragonstone. Very few of them had mingled with the Dornish folk Elia brought with her, unless they were women. Everyone expected Dornish women to be wanton and desperate for any man and more than once, it led to disaster when two of her ladies from small Dornish houses had been raped months apart. Rhaegar immediately executed the culprits which endeared him to Elia greatly. After that there were two entirely separate courts in Dragonstone. 

Rhaegar flitted from his court to hers with ease but Elia found it difficult to form relationships with Rhaegar's men. She had put on her princess mask, laughed and bantered with them but they would always say or do something that made her uncomfortable. One night, during a small feast she organised to celebrate the end of winter, Ser Myles had requested the Dornishman's Wife and the hall came alive with the sounds of men singing. Some of Elia's ladies and the Dornish knights tried laughing along but the rest sat in stony silences.

Elia had sent her people all away as soon as she learnt of Aerys' plan to make them all his hostages from Ser Jeffrey Velaryon, the captain of guards. She had feigned illness and in the chaos, the Dornish court snuck into boats and rowed their way to ships Jeffrey had arranged on her behalf. Jeffrey was probably in Dragonstone now guarding Rhaella and Viserys. He would be guarding her had it not been for Rhaegar.

Ser Myles Mooton held open the door for her. "My lady," he said with a bow.

Elia ignored him. The time for winning people over was done. All her time and energy will be spent plotting her way out of King's Landing. Once she reached Dorne, she will be safe from Rhaegar. The children had been excited to leave the apartment they had been locked in for weeks. Elia made sure to walk slowly so that Rhaenys and Aegon would have time to gawk at everything. Rhaenys was drawn to the strangers around them, Aegon preferred to touch the walls of the corridor they walked down and jump down the stairs one at a time while Elia tried to make sure he didn't fall.

Their new apartments were identical to the other ones, only these had red walls instead of green. They consisted of three chambers of the same size, a solar, and a privy. Elia saw a book shelf and felt relieved. The new windows were facing the city walls and the Blackwater Bay which was a boring sight with the harbour closed. Elia had grown up confined to Sunspear; her parents had been convinced she was too fragile to roam like Oberyn did. Whenever she grew sick, they would lock her in a sterile room with a nurse and the maester. Confinement always made Elia anxious and unhappy, even when it was for her own good. The first time she left Dorne, Elia became obsessed with ships and the sea. She followed the crew around, she sat with the oarsmen until her mother forbade it, she stood at the side of the ship and watched it glide over the water. Elia had followed the captain around so much that he complained to her mother. Once she climbed up the crow's nest and watched the sun rise. Of course someone saw her up there and then there was a huge scene where crewmen held a large cloth under the crow's nest lest she fell while Elia yelled at her mother for embarrassing her. That was many years ago; since then Elia has been trapped on her bed due to childbirth, and in the Red Keep by her good father.

Rhaegar was planning another period of confinement. This time in Riverrun with the handsome Hoster Tully, whose wife died trying to give him a second son. Elia touched her belly and looked at her children. Rhaenys and Aegon were walking around the antechamber they were in, hand in hand, speaking a childish language to one another that Elia barely understood. What would happen to them? Elia felt sorry for them, she had given them a terrible father. Her father carried her around the Water Gardens to cheer her up about a bout of illness, Rhaegar was likely planning Aegon's death at least.

The servants brought chests of Elia's remaining clothes and jewellery. Then they brought her a tub of hot water to bathe in. Elia felt exhausted but she got in the tub with her children. Aegon and Rhaenys splashed water on each other and on her. They wiggled away from soap and they kept trying to suckle from her breasts. By the time the water became lukewarm, Elia was breathless with laughter.

"I love you," she told her children while drying them. She picked up a comb and sat Rhaenys down between her legs. Aegon kept trying to steal the comb away.

"Mama," he said every time Elia held it out of reach. "Co'! Co'!"

"Comb, you mean. _Comb._ "

"Comb," Rhaenys said perfectly. Then she started speaking to Aegon in a rudimentary language that he seemed to understand. Pycelle said it was normal, that children sometimes repeated everything they heard from their parents but their mouths can not yet form words very well. Elia hoped so, her children had to be perfect, as perfect as Baelor Breakspear had been. Yet Daemon Blackfyre had half the country backing him, Elia remembered. What did it matter? Aegon's path to the throne was long and thorny. Elia should focus on keeping him alive by taking him to Dorne. Rhaenys was her brother's heir but because many would not consider her a threat, she was less likely to be murdered. Elia had to figure out a way to have their food tasted for poison. She would do it herself but she died, who would protect her children from their father?

"Mama," Rhaenys said looking up. "Why..." she looked down for a moment before looking up and wiping Elia's cheeks roughly. Then she spoke really fast but Elia got the gist of what she was saying.

"I'm crying," Elia explained, "because you're so pretty and I'm quite envious." Elia kissed her cheeks. "Rhaenys, say thank you. I just paid you a compliment."

"No," Rhaenys said before getting up and running away. Aegon following closely behind.

Elia dressed herself in a simple gown of soft wool and she chose a single plait for her hair. It was a struggle to dress both of her children but eventually she got them in proper clothes. Eventually, someone came with food for all three of them. They ate in the drawing room after Elia put a table and some chairs at the centre of the room. Sara, a hefty woman from the Riverlands, came to feed Aegon. Her son's eyes lit up as soon as he saw his wet-nurse and he practically leaped into her arms.

"None of my children appreciate me," Elia complained while forcing down mutton stew.

Sara was still laughing as she sat down and opened the front of her dress. "It's milk he wants. I doubt he remembers my name, Your Grace." She had worked in the kitchens before becoming Aegon's wet-nurse. In the beginning, she lived with them in the antechamber of Elia's room. Then Aerys decided that she would only be present when it was time to feed Aegon.

Rhaenys pushed away her plate of greens and tried to join her brother. Elia had to stand up and rescue Sara.

"Rhaenys," Elia said sternly, "you are almost three namedays old. You can't have mother's milk anymore but kale will make you stronger. Don't you want to be strong?"

Rhaenys turned her head away from Elia's spoon. "No. I want milk." Elia could recognise the beginning of a tantrum."

"Rhaenys, I'm so tired. Can't you be nice to your mother just this once?" 

Somehow that worked. Rhaenys ate her food with a lot of complaining about how her tummy didn't like it very much. Elia managed to finish hers and even Aegon was satisfied.

"You have lovely children, Your Grace" Sara said buttoning up. She always said that with a sad wistful look on her face. Her babe didn't live long. No one knew who the father of her child was but Elia had her suspicions.

"Thank you.," Elia replied pouring as much compassion into the two words as she could. 

A comfortable silence followed, one that made Elia sleepy. Of course that was when Rhaegar decided to finally arrive. He was followed by Jon Darry and six Lannister guards. Rhaegar had removed his armor, he looked clean and well rested. He was also avoiding looking at the children. Aegon was snuggling Sara. Rhaenys looked at the newcomers with interest but there was no recognition in her eyes. Of course not, the last time she saw Rhaegar, she had been younger than Aegon. Rhaegar hadn't visited any of the children when he finally emerged from hiding. He hadn't even asked about their well being. Elia had wondered about that. She knew something terrible was about to happen to her based on Varys' words but she assumed... she assumed a great deal and she had been wrong about all of them. Still Elia felt a vicious satisfaction; she was the only one Aegon and Rhaenys loved. She was their mother and their father.

"Elia," Rhaegar said.

"Your Grace." Elia sounded cold and she remained seated.

Rhaegar cleared his throat. "Take the children away. It's quite dark, they should sleep," he told Sara. 

The wet-nurse curtsied before taking Rhaenys' hand. Elia's heart was beating hard but she nodded at Sara and watched her children leave. Rhaegar's guards left too and that gave Elia a spike of anxiety. She didn't want any of them near her babies. 

Rhaegar took a seat opposite Elia. Then he said nothing. It occured to Elia a short while later that he might have trouble speaking openly about he had done. The silence stretched on and on. Had it been that long ago when the two of them spent hours talking? It felt like she was looking at a different man.

Finally, Elia broke the silence. "You came here for a reason."

"Yes," Rhaegar replied. "I married Lyanna Stark and I annulled our marriage."

"Did you?" Elia said mildly. This was not the reaction he was expecting. "How?"

"The High Septon left King's Landing under my orders. He conducted the ceremony between Lyanna and I after he signed the annulment of our marriage." Rhaegar waited for a reaction. When he got nothing, he continued, "Lyanna is pregnant right now. She'll be on the birthing bed soon."

"Only kings can approve of annulments," Elia said. "I'm impressed you managed to quietly convince your father." It was a little difficult understanding the reasoning behind this lie. Was he hoping that she would believe him easily? That way she wouldn't contest the annulment when he finally procured the necessary document. Did he think that by lying, no one would go to the High Septon to argue on her behalf? Elia remembered the Dornish army, the only ones in this city who would dare defy the king for her.

Rhaegar shifted in his seat. "I hadn't managed to convince my father-"

"So you have not annulled our marriage," Elia cut him off. "Luckily for you, you're now king. You can easily remedy that."

Rhaegar was watching her closely. "Does it matter? You said it yourself, I am now king. This is something I can easily arrange."

"True but you'll have to be quick or your child will be born a bastard."

"My daughter will never be a bastard. Targaryen kings have taken two wives before. Both of Aegon the Conqueror's sons became kings," Rhaegar said.

 _Then why are you trying to make my children bastards?_ "What do you want Rhaegar?"

"Accept the annulment, Elia. Don't demand a trial, don't fight it. When I announce it, you'll be standing beside me and you'll tell the court that it is something you want," Rhaegar said. He had such a kind look on his face. "It's better this way. You weren't happy with me. Don't deny it. I spent our first year doing all I can to make you happy and after Harrenhal... it was obvious that I couldn't."

Elia stared at him. "I was in love with you," she said. It seemed that Rhaegar understood her as much as she understood him.

He looked genuinely surprised at that. "You did?" He looked away. "It doesn't matter. I love Lyanna now. 'The song of ice and fire... do you remember that? You had given birth to Ae- your son and I thought he was the prince that was promised? I was wrong. The children Lyanna will give me are the three heads of the dragon. They will save the world from the coming darkness." Rhaegar had a faraway look on his face. "Did I tell you that I dreamt of the end of the world?"

"Yes," Elia said. The truth was, Rhaegar barely told her anything about this aspect of his life and he kept his scrolls hidden. Elia had Seen a conversation between him and Arthur. 

Rhaegar was surprised again. "Then you understand why this is necessary. My son with Lyanna must be the undisputed heir-"

"- and your son with me must be a bastard, discarded and forgotten."

Rhaegar reached across the table and took her hand in his. "He will be taken care of. I'll find you a good husband, a kind and gentle man. Your children will grow up in Dorne with your brothers." His hands felt clammy.

Elia would be a hostage to ensure that her brothers don't rebel. What would happen should Lord Tully impregnate her? Elia's death would free Doran and Oberyn to act. It was clear that Rhaegar had no intention of taking her children to Sunspear.

"Should I refuse? Should I demand a trial?" Elia pulled her hand away. "I marriage you in the Sept of Baelor and you sired all my children. You expect me to dishonor myself?"

Rhaegar closed his hand into a fists. He looked pained as he spoke. "There have been... suggestions... that I accuse you of adultery. The girl... she looks nothing like me. She could be sired by any number of men.... You had many Dornishmen in your company..... As for the boy, you were close with Ser Jeffrey and he has the Valyrian look."

"You wouldn't," Elia said just to see Rhaegar's reaction. "Those are your children. You would become a kinslayer."

Rhaegar flinched a little before he attempted to harden himself. "If you give me no choice... the fate of the world matters more than two children, more than you. Elia, I don't want to do this." He sounded so convincing. "I promise you- you can put it in writing if you want- that you will marry a husband worthy of your status and the children will be taken to your brothers."

Elia tried to keep her voice flat when she asked. "When do you plan on destroying my family?"

Rhaegar closed his eyes as though he was in great pain. He opened them and said, "When Lyanna arrives. She's coming by sea and she will be here in two days or so. I will marry her again in the Sept before she gives birth just in case there are in doubters."

Elia rubbed the hand that he touched aggressively on her dress. "I want to write to my brothers. I want to walk the gardens. I want to see the Dornishmen who fought with my uncle."

"You can walk the gardens but you can only write to your brothers afterwards. I'll allow you some visitors... no doubt by now they have heard about my marriage. Don't try to rile them up, Elia. There are only one thousand men capable of fighting. They would only die needlessly."

Elia bit the inside of her cheek to keep from lashing out. So far her powers had been in check. She made a mistake unleashing them in her old apartments though she knew Varys' spies could not fit in the walls. The space between the walls was too small there but here... someone would see her. Someone would know and Elia could not allow that. Not yet anyway.

"You've said your piece, Your Grace. You can leave. I want to see my children before they sleep."

Elia waited until he was gone to start crying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should I add a tag about Elia's power? It's there in the first chapter but I don't know how to tag it. Anyway I was really happy with the amount of comments I got in the last chapter. Tell me what you guys think about this one.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow the last chapter had an explosive response. I loved every comment. I wanted to explain Rhaegar's action just to show that it's not madness. Show Rhaegar annulled his marriage to Elia or at least he was planning on it. Elia had 2 legitimate children- so the only way the annulment can be valid is if Elia accepts it and then married off quickly so it can't be reversed. If she chooses to fight (like Katherine of Aragon did), Rhaegar would have to prove the marriage is illegitimate. He doesn't have Bible verses- I mean verses from the Seven Pointed Star to use so he has to prove he felt cheated within the marriage. That is, Elia cheated on him. He can't claim that she didn't come to him a virgin because Elia, unlike highborn women, didn't ride on horses often due to her ill health and her parents over-protectiveness. So she bled during her wedding night and countless of people saw the bloody sheet. So yeah, that's why Rhaegar is such an ass.
> 
> As usual this chapter is not beta read

Chapter 4

Elia slept holding her children and she woke up feeling just as terrible as previous night. Her headache was raging and her body felt as though she spent the night running. It was always difficult whenever Elia used her gifts too frequently. The level of exhaustion and pain would be too much and she would need days to recover but Elia didn't have days. By now, the court would have heard about the annulment and Rhaegar would be making arrangements. Elia needed to know the people he chose to rely on, she needed to know who his allies were, she needed to See and hear. With great reluctance, Elia transported herself to the King's solar.

Jon Darry and Barristan Selmy were present. Elia hadn't seen Selmy arrive but she knew he would be no true friend. Myles Mooton, Tywin Lannister, Lord Varys, all surrounded Rhaegar.

"Are you sure Lady Elia will publicly support you on this?" Tywin asked. Elia almost cried with relief. She thought she would have to jump in and out of Rhaegar's solar for hours. She got it right the first time.

"I am wholly confident. Elia would never risk her children. She does not trust me, she thinks I'll..." Rhaegar trailed away.

"You can't make threats you won't follow through on," Tywin told him.

Myles nodded. "If she calls your bluff, Rhaegar, you'll have to do it."

"She won't," Rhaegar assured them. "You didn't see her face. She was terrified." He seemed appropriately uncomfortable at this. Elia assumed he wanted to look kingly even while he plotted with his inner circle.

Lord Varys spoke up. "My little birds have been in the Tully camps. The soldiers think highly of Lord Hoster. There isn't any rumour of wife beating or frequent infidelity. He seems like an even handed lord to all those who serve him loyally."

"Good. Elia's a good woman despite everything, I don't want her marrying a monster."

Tywin cleared her throat. "You could marry her to Jaime. It seems she's capable of rearing children despite her illnesses... if she dies, my son can find another wife easily." Elia was shocked, both at how casually he said that and the fact that he wanted her to marry his golden son. Many years ago he decided she was only good enough for his unwanted newborn son. Why though? Perhaps Tywin wanted Rhaegar to feel indebted to him. It would make him an enemy to Dorne until Elia gave birth. Perhaps Tywin thought Doran wouldn't kill her child's grandfather? That can't be the only reason. Tywin hadn't wanted Dornish blood to tarnish his precious Lannister line, why change now?

Rhaegar peered at Tywin. "I'll think about it."

"Ser Jaime and Elia were friends while King Aerys held them. Lady Elia might find it easier to marry her friend than to marry Lord Tully," Varys said. Elia glared at him. She had known deep down that he was no friend of hers but it hurt watching him plan her death with the rest of them. "Elia might convince Lord Tully to rebel against the crown. Being set aside and separated from her children would affect her health, the poor thing."

Rhaegar shook his head. "Elia is many things but she's not the type to whisper poison in someone's ear nor will she ever chose war. She didn't even wanted Robert to die. It's her brothers we have to worry about. We must make sure they don't have easy access to the children."

"I can hold them for you," Myles offered. "My sister is very good with children. She's religious and she can easily prepare Rhaenys for the Faith and Aegon for the Wall." _For the Wall._ Elia had focused so hard on her children's deaths that she forgot there were other ways to hurt them. Rhaenys and Aegon won't have children of their own, they would toil for the rest of their lives while that Northern woman's children sat on the Iron throne. A vase fell off a cabinet and for a moment, the room seemed to rattle but it settled down quickly.

"What was that?" Rhaegar asked looking up the ceiling.

"It must have been perched too close to the edge," Varys said as he went to pick up the pieces. Rhaegar seemed a little unsettled but he let it go.

"The children should be separated. It's safer that way," Tywin said matter-of-factly. "Perhaps the little girl can go with her mother."

"Or perhaps she can go to Highgarden," Varys supplied. Elia felt despair bubbling up her throat. Rhaenys had the Dornish look, she would suffer in the Reach. Mace Tyrell blamed his son's injuries on Oberyn, he'll hurt Rhaenys.

Tywin gave Varys a cold look. "I wouldn't trust the Tyrells with that. Who knows, instead of sending the girl to the Faith, she might end up pregant with a Tyrell baby."

Rhaegar walked to his chair behind his desk. "That is true. They did sit out the war and I would imagine the idea of bowing to a Northern queen would annoy them."

"They are mere stewards," Myles said derisively. "They think too highly of themselves but surely they know better than to defy you. Besides, the Reach would never ally itself with Dorne."

"Mace Tyrell has a deep hatred for the Red Viper and I'm sure he would rather betrothed his newborn daughter to your son," Varys said. Was he in league with the Tyrells? Did he serve them? No, Varys served no one. _Don't forget Elia, these people are vipers and they strike for only themselves,_ her mother told her. Elia knew more about Varys than anyone else in the room but it was still not enough. She could barely make sense of his plans.

"Mace Tyrell's feelings matter little. It's his mother we should look out for. I doubt Olenna Tyrell would care too much about historical enmities if it means her family could gain the throne through the little girl," Tywin said. "They don't call her the queen of thorns for nothing. My brother Kevan can see to it that the girl is fed and clothed, and when the time comes, she will be given to the Faith. Of course, if you would prefer it, you could send her to Winterfell."

"No, Lyanna trusts her brother but I would rather not tempt him to avenge his fallen friend," Rhaegar said. Tywin looked pleased with that answer. Rhaegar sat for one long moment before turning to his Kingsguard. "What do you think?"

Both men had blank faces. Elia walked to them and tried to find any derision for Rhaegar but she could find none.

"The Riverlands was divided during the war, Your Grace, marrying Prince- Lady Elia to Lord Tully might bring the rebels to your side or it might ignite them," Jon Darry said. "By now they have lost men to the war. They might feel the urge to avenge them through Lady Elia's children."

Barristan Selmy spoke in a solemn voice. "Maelys the Monstrous' war ended with his death because he had no relatives. Elia's brothers will contest the dissolution of the marriage and there are many who would be sympathetic for religious reasons. You swore vows inside a sept, Your Grace, you can't erase that."

"Baelor the Blessed dissolved his marriage without a war erupting," Rhaegar complained. 

"Baelor the Blessed had the support of the High Septon and was considered pious by the smallfolk. He also ended a disastrous war with the Dornish and gave alms to the poor," Barristan said. "He didn't replace Daena the Defiant with another woman."

Myles said, "Lady Elia is no Daena the Defiant-" 

"Her children could easily become Blackfyres to Queen Lyanna's children," Varys said. "The Tyrells stood firmly with House Targaryen as always and I'm sure they will remain steadfast-"

Rhaegar shook his head again. "I would rather make a marriage alliance with them than give them the girl. Lord Tywin has made a good point."

"If I may be honest with you," Myles said, "I wouldn't trust Hoster Tully. He's a sly one. He had no qualms with your family but he used the rebellion to win good marriages for his children. He could easily use Lady Elia and her brothers if it benefited him."

"The Riverlands have been torn by war. Should the Martells send the rest of their army to war, they could easily take it. The Westerlands would stand strong against them," Tywin argued. "My men have been bloodied and they are hungry for war."

"No one can doubt the valour of your army but I do wonder if you'll invite war to your doorstep," Varys said with a lot of concern. "Should Elia give birth to a boy, he would become your son's heir. I doubt your son's second wife would be happy that none of her children would inherit."

"She could easily give birth to a girl," Tywin said.

Varys retorted with: "Ser Jaime is so close to Lady Elia. She was so kind to him this past year. People would do a lot for their friends; Lord Stark and the would-be Usurper went to war together."

"My son has no head for politics and he would obey me," Tywin snapped. "If the Martell woman is as fertile as Archmaester Pycelle insists that she is, she won't have time to turn my son against the king and even if she succeeds, I am Lord of Casterly Rock. _My_ word is law."

Rhaegar raised his hand. "Thank you all for your counsel. I will think long and hard and tomorrow, I will tell you my decision."

Elia opened her eyes in her chamber to find her children missing. Though her muscles burned with exhausted, she jumped out of the bed and started calling their names. Only they didn't answer. Fear gripped Elia as she ran around the apartments.

"Rhaenys! Aegon!" Her voice came out weak as her throat had been growing tight. 

Then mercifully, she heard the sound of laughter coming from one of the closets. Elia wrenched the door opened to see her children. Without thinking, she grabbed them both by their arms.

"Don't ever do that! Don't ever hide from me!" Her voice came out hoarse and she was shaking as hard as they were. Aegon merely slapped at her fingers while fat tears fell from Rhaenys' eyes. "Don't ever do that." Elia let them go and sunk to her knees. She didn't cry, it seemed she had no tears left, she only put her face on her hands. Then she felt a pair of small hands on her head. When she looked up, Rhaenys wiped her face roughly while she patted the top of Elia's head. It was what Elia did to calm to her daughter. Elia felt wretched; they were only children playing, they didn't mean to scare her.

She gathered her children in her arms and apologised. "I won't do it again. I hope you'll forgive me."

Aegon responded by trying to open her gown for milk while Rhaenys gave her a clumsy kiss.

"Those men think they can separate us," she told them in a quiet voice, "they are wrong. They just don't know it yet."

Elia opened to the door to her apartments and ordered the guard to bring her hot water and food. The bath went the same way as the previous one, only Elia was too tired to laugh. Sara came to feed Aegon, while Elia fed Rhaenys a bowl of porridge. Elia forced down everything in her plate and then she asked Sara to watch the children while she slept. It was late afternoon when Aegon woke her up as he got ready for his nap.

The new apartments had a balcony. There were balconies directly above hers but no one was looking down. Elia set down a cup, a quill and a small book. She sat down cross-legged a few feet away and tried to remember her father's lessons. _Breathe in deeply, breathe out deeply,_ he told her. Elia's gifts started appearing at a young age. It disturbed her mother and Doran but her father responded by trying to teach her. He went as far as bringing a sorceress from Asshai but mother sent the woman away once rumours started swirling. Even in Dorne magic was frowned upon.

Elia breathed in and out as deeply as she could until she felt her body completely relax. Then she looked at the items and sent a tendril towards the quill. It was difficult to explain what that tendril felt like; it was like a second hand, she could sense it but it did not feel solid. Sometimes it would disappear, sometimes it wouldn't appear at all. This time, it wrapped around the quill and Elia pulled the quill towards herself. She inhaled and exhaled again before turning her focus towards the cup. It was heavier than the quill. Two tendrils encircled the cup and it floated towards her. Finally, it was book's turn. Elia needed more tendrils to move it. She looked around her to make sure no one was watching. Then she repeated the process. It had to come easily to her. She didn't want to struggle to use her powers.

This power was even more draining than the Sight. Once the sun set, Elia crawled to her bed after asking Sara to stay the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me what you guys think. This Varys is closer to the show, where he isn't very 'oh I'm so silly.' This Tywin is a mixture of book and show. I'm really glad you guys like this Elia. I wanted her to have a quiet strength despite the fact that she's imprisoned and she's scared- kind of like Sansa.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had written the outline for this chapter before I posted the previous chapter so I was pleasantly surprised when I read some of your comments about the legal and social problems caused by random annulments.

Chapter 5

Very early the next morning, Elia went back to the balcony to practice. This time with more items and a towel to cover the railings so that no one could see anything from below. She would periodically look around to make sure that no one was watching her. She only stopped when the castle started to come alive. Elia had successfully lifted and manoeuvred a chair though it gave her a headache from all the straining. She sat on the ground enjoying the quiet moments before her children woke up. That was when a piece of paper floated down. When Elia looked up, she saw a man on the balcony directly above her ducking away. Elia flipped the paper over and started reading.

_'Queen Elia,_

_You have more friends within the Red Keep than you know. The King's plans to set you aside will not prevail. The Dornish are aware and have been trying to leave the city to send word to Prince Doran. To speak with us, drop a letter on the balcony below you but only at dawn. Seven blessings, Your Grace._

_Burn this letter.'_

Elia clutched the letter to her chest for a moment before she threw it into the hearth. She rubbed her temples to help with the headache and went to wake the children. For the first time in so long, Elia felt energised. She splashed water on her children when they took a bath together, she tickled Rhaenys and chased Aegon, she even kissed a red faced Sara on her plump cheeks. It wasn't until the guards at the door announced Lord Varys that Elia considered that the letter might be a trap. If Rhaegar saw her with the letter, he might decide she was not trustworthy and he might accuse her of adultery after all. How many friends would she have then? Elia tried not to dwell on it; she hadn't used her Sight on the Dornish camp out of guilt. It was her fault that thousands of Dornish soldiers perished in the Trident. Her uncle joined the Kingsguard to protect her and he died too. Elia could not find the strength to look them in their faces, which was stupid she knew. A smarter woman would verify everything in the letter and while Elia planned on going around the Red Keep to See what was happening, she could not Look at the Dornish army.

Lord Varys had the look of a man going to funeral. He wore black robes and had a sombre expression on his face. He kissed her on both cheeks.

"Prince Lewyn was a marvellous man, a courageous warrior, a man of honour," Varys eulogised. "He will be missed."

Elia swallowed the lump in her throat. "Yes, he will be. He is with the Warrior now."

Varys gently took her hand and led her to the drawing room. "Perhaps, it is blessing that he died before His Grace annulled your marriage. It would have been difficult for him to serve our new queen and her children."

Elia hadn't thought of that but she would rather have that than her uncle dead.

"Tell me, Varys, what is happening in the court?" She asked. Elia didn't have strength to watch everyone in all hours of the day. Perhaps Varys could point her to the right direction.

"So much, it's almost overwhelming. King Rhaegar has dismissed his father's courtiers. It caused quite the uproar as those men had friends all over the city," Varys told her. "He is slowly filling his Small Council. Ser Myles will be the Master of War. Some of us have told His Grace to give a spot on his council to Prince Doran as compensation." Elia snorted. As though Doran would accept. "Laugh all you want, princess, but everyone knows there's a new war in the horizon. Most of Rhaegar's supporters are eager to face the Dornish in the battle but a wise few would do anything to avoid it."

"Do you count yourself among them?" Elia asked as she took a seat.

"Of course, war is the most dreadful thing I have ever witnessed," said the man who witnessed Aerys at his worst. "Elia," Varys lowered his voice, "I had looked forward to serving you since the day King Aerys named you Rhaegar's betrothed. I have no doubt you would have been as great as Alysanne but it seems the two of us must part."

"The annulment... when will it happen? Or has it already?"

"That's a difficult question to answer," Varys replied.. "There are septons and lords gathering to petition the King. They want him to cease the annulment and send Lyanna Stark away. They believe it will lead to men around Westeros setting their lawful wives aside with ease. Marriage is what keeps Westeros together, they insist, without it no one would have ties to anyone. In the Free Cities we sign treaties but here blood ties rule over everything. 'You marry your daughter to a lord expecting peace between your two houses. What will happen if your daughter is thrown out of the marriage bed?' They have been asking." Varys paused before continuing, "Some have taken to the streets to preach but the soldiers put a stop to that. The High Septon has been very reluctant and has not yet drawn the document. He keeps asking for time to get his septry in order and time to pray to the gods." Elia couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Rhaegar may have convinced half the court that it's a done deal but the other half knows you're still tied to him. There have been attempts to visit you, including the letter you brought with you from the balcony."

Her heart stopped for a moment. "What letter?"

Varys smiled benignly. "No letter, my lady, forget I said anything."

He had the same look on his face when he came to see her after Rhaegar had left the city. Elia knew the situation with Lyanna Stark was a lot more serious than she had hoped. Varys told her that a septon had left King's Landing at the same time Rhaegar had left Dragonstone, and that the two had met in Dorne. Elia had spent the year terrified of Aerys; Varys had been his spymaster, point out one traitor after another. Aerys called Varys, his eyes and ears. She had thought the conversation was a trap so she repeatedly told Varys to leave her alone. He came back the next day and the day after that.

"The rebels want to kill your children and parade their corpses around the city," Varys told her. Elia had been crying when she ordered him to leave. 

"The King has grown tired of Queen Rhaella's empty womb and he wants to steal into your chamber one night so you would give him a Valyrian daughter for Prince Viserys to marry," Varys said the following day. Elia shook her head in horror and ignored Varys until he left. She had put chairs in front of the door in case Aerys came. It wouldn't have stopped him but it allowed her to sleep a little.

"Some of the men from Dragonstone have caught the King's attention and we all know what that means," Varys said the day after that. "They are willing to cast doubt on your children's parentage in order to save themselves." Elia tried to think of any enemies she made in Dragonstone. She could not even remember the petty lords and knights who came with her to King's Landing. Days and nights had melded together in Elia's head and whenever she tried to remember something, there was a black hole.

"The King will name Viserys his heir before Rhaegar returns to the city," Varys said after forcing his way into her bedchamber. "You have more Valyrian blood than any other woman in Westeros. Your marriage to Rhaegar will be dissolved and you will become the little prince's wife. His Grace believes you'll sire a proper Targaryen girl with Viserys in a few years and once you're dead, he hopes to find a good woman for his beloved son in Volantis and Lys."

Finally Elia ate enough food to spy on Aerys and his whisperer. She watched them for hours until she passed out. When she woke up to Pycelle's bony fingers under her dress, Elia felt as though she might finally have a lifeline. In hindsight, it was stupid to think of Varys as such. He might not have set those men on fire but he was complicit but Elia had been desperate. Aerys seemed to be getting worse. A few weeks earlier, he had ranted about feeding her children to his wildfire to see if they were true dragons. Elia needed to get them out of the city.

Luckily for her, Varys had a plan. "The King will be sending his wife and son to Dragonstone to avoid the rebels." As the war had grown more intense, Aerys had ordered that no ship could leave or enter the harbour. "To avoid capture, Rhaella's ship will leave the harbour with a dozen other ships; six ships will go south and six ships will go north, separating along the way. I have bribed one of the captains, Your Grace, and he will take your son to Dorne."

"Aegon? Why not the both of them?"

"I could only find a boy who resembles Aegon, Your Grace. There are too few Dornish people in the capital thanks to your brother and it will take too long to find a girl for Rhaenys."

Elia had grabbed Varys. "Aerys will kill Rhaenys," she said. "He'll kill her."

"As soon as Aegon leaves Blackwater Bay, I'll take the two of you to the harbour and you'll be reunited soon enough."

Right before Elia agreed, she felt a sudden and strong doubt. It was too good to be true.

"I need time," she had said backing away.

"You don't have any, Your Grace," Varys had replied gently.

"I need it. Please. Just make sure everything was ready."

Surprisingly, Varys listened to her or perhaps he was going to the docks anyway. Elia followed him, noting how easily he blended into the crowds and how no one realised they were looking at the King's spy. She Saw the boat Varys had procured and she watched as the captain greeted Varys like an old friend. The boat was never going to Dorne, it was headed for Pentos. Aegon in Pentos was better than a dead Aegon but when Varys came for her son, Elia refused to hand him over. For the smallest moment, Varys' mask slipped and Elia caught a glimpse of the ugliness underneath.

Since then, Aerys died, the rebellion was defeated and her children were still in danger. Elia could not help but wonder if she had made the right choice.

"What are Rhaegar's plans for me?" Elia said. She already knew but she wanted to see the web Varys would spin.

"You will marry Lord Hoster," Varys answered. "Two of his daughters are married women and the boy will become the King's hostage until he reaches the age of majority. I expect Lord Tully would want more children and though it will break Rhaegar's heart, he will allow it."

"Why?"

"Any child of yours with Lord Tully will tie him to Dorne. Your brothers won't be able to take revenge against your husband without hurting your child," Varys replied.

"Wouldn't that align Dorne and the Riverlands?"

Varys smiled knowingly. "Rhaegar is a very trusting and forgiving man. He believes he can achieve peace before his coronation... Of course your marriage will have to take place after Edmure Tully arrives in the city but who knows how long that would take? There are outlaws, it's not safe for children to travel. It might take a while before you see Riverrun."

That would make Rhaegar shy away from Hoster Tully and consider Jaime Lannister instead. He would want Elia married and bedded so the annulment could not be reversed. Elia didn't want either man, Tully might try to get a son out of her and Jaime was only a boy who looked up to Rhaegar. What Elia needed was Dorne.

"And the children?"

"They would go to the Riverlands, to the Maidenpool until it is time for them to join the Night's Watch and a septry," Varys said. Elia looked appropriately shocked and dismayed. "It's all terrible sad. They will go from silks and a mother's love to living maegre lives at the fringes of society. One day, perhaps, Queen Lyanna would send for Rhaenys so the girl can teach her nieces, the Queen's grandchildren. Family is very important to Her Grace the King tells me."

For a moment, Elia sa red but then she inhaled and exhaled until she got under control.

"I hope not, it would only serve to rub salt on a large wound," she said through gritted teeth. "What else is happening in the Red Keep?"

"Everything you would expect before a coronation- the lords and knights want a piece of Westeros and King's Landing. Rhaegar will be stripping land from the rebels and giving them to his allies. He has so many offices to fill currently." 

"What does Lord Tywin want?"

"Oh, Lord Tywin has very little interest in you. He is Hand of the King again and is very desperate to prove he's just as sharp as ever."

Elia stood up. "If that is all...."

Varys reached for her hands. "There is still time to make a different choice."

"I thought your boat has already sailed."

"I can find a new one. This time I can take both children to Dorne. There's a little girl with your daughter's colouring. Well, she's a little pale but you won't allow anyone to come close enough to see, will you?" Varys squeezed her hands gently. "Aegon's wetnurse is fiercely loyal to you, she'll help you with the charade-"

"I will have to remain behind?"

"Unfortunately, Elia, you'll have to stay and buy time for your children. As soon as you disappear, Rhaegar will send men and ships far and wide. Even a single day's headstart is better than nothing."

Aegon and Rhaenys in Pentos... it was better than what everyone else had planned for them. Why would Varys want them so much? They only had a claim to the Iron Throne. Rhaegar and the Stark woman had the support of the Crownlands, the Reach, the Westerlands and the North. _But not the Stormlands or Dorne,_ Elia reminded herself. Jon Arryn's family died in the rebellion and Hoster Tully... he was unpredictable, unless Elia was still made to marry him.

"When the Stark woman coming?"

"Tomorrow," Varys answered.

Elia rubbed her eyes. "Everyone's attention will be on her."

Varys' smile stretched into a grin. "And not on you. I will make everything ready, Princess Elia."

"I want to see the Dornish lords first."

"His Grace-"

"Tell him that you'll supervise the meeting so I don't speak out of turn. _Please._ " It will kill Elia to look them in the eye but she needed hope, she needed eyes within the Red Keep. _We take Dorne with us everywhere we go,_ Oberyn had told her all those years ago when she left Dorne for the first time. She hoped he was telling the truth. Elia needed Dorne to give her strength for what she was about to do.

When he left, Elia covered her face with her hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me what you guys think.
> 
> Hopefully, every character makes sense. I don't want Rhaegar to be mindlessly evil, I want him to have motives. Same with Varys. I haven't really focused on Tywin yet but I will. I also hope the political situation makes sense and seems grounded. I hope Elia's reasons for not looking through the Red Keep or camps make sense.
> 
> I don't know how long this fic is going to be. When I originally envisioned it, everything in the first half was supposed to take 10,000 words to write. Here we are and I'm still not quite a third way through.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I continue to be blown away by the response this fic gets. I write for many fandoms (I'm currently ignoring my WIPs to write this fic lol) and I swear Elia/Martell fans are so enthusiastic and supportive. Thank you everyone.

Chapter 6

Elia didn't get a chance to rest because soon after the guards announced Hoster Tully's presence. Her stomach was in knots and her hands were wet with sweat when she went to open the door. Lord Tully's fever was broken and he looked better than he had when she first saw him. He bowed to her as he entered. Elia almost moved to the right to take his arm before she remembered it was gone. She led him to the drawing room and sat him down on the chair Varys had vacated. Hoster winced as though he had injuries she couldn't see. 

"Princess Elia, it's an honor to finally meet you," he said.

"You were absent during my wedding?" Elia was surprised. It seemed like all of Westeros had been packed into the sept. She had been so terrified of embarrassing herself with every lord in existence present that she could hardly remember the ceremony.

"I was sick. I would have come regardless but my children threatened to send for my brother," Hoster said. "I sent Catelyn and Lysa on my behalf. I'm sure my brother came too. He won't marry but he always enjoyed a good wedding."

Elia struggled to smile. "I'm sure he enjoyed mine. Queen Rhaella planned it very well."

"I'm afraid our wedding won't be exquisite," Hoster said. Even though Elia has known there was a possibility she would wed him soon, it made her heart beat.

"Will we?" She asked in what she hoped was a calm voice.

"The last time I spoke with the King, he made it clear and as far as I know, he has not approached anyone else," Hoster replied. "My men have already knelt to His Grace and he pardoned them for fighting with Robert Baratheon. They have been my eyes and ears."

Elia was surprised again, this time at the honesty. "You shouldn't say that-"

"The spider might hear? My lady, I will not sit meekly in my cell worried that a spy might see my every move. If Rhaegar does expects me to allow myself to remain in the dark, he is a fool," Hoster said. "Twice over it seems. You're quite beautiful-"

"My- my lord," Elia said taken back.

"I'm told your son is the very image of his father and while my men have heard people disparaging your Dornish blood, no one could say anything about your character," Hoster continued. "I'm told that you are intelligent. His Grace admitted your administered Dragonstone on his behalf. I spoke to a few of the Dornishmen allowed inside the Red Keep and they tell me you were your mother's treasurer."

"You're very kind," Elia replied softly.

"My lady, you need not to look so frightened. I have no intention of mistreating you. His Grace has decided to throw our lots together, I say we make the most of it," he told her. "Though I never planned on marrying again, I need someone capable to fill my late wife's shoes." Hoster looked around the room before he turned to her, "I'm told you have a balcony."

"Yes, I do." Elia led him there. Her children ran past them on the way there with Sara following them closely. Hoster looked at them with open curiosity. 

Elia closed the balcony doors behind them. She looked up and down to make sure there was no one above or below them. When she looked back at him, she thought his hair looked fiery in the sunlight. "What did you want to say?"

"I asked Pycelle to examine you," Hoster admitted. "That Targaryen bastard will expect us to consummate the marriage so the Dornish can't reverse it. When will your moonblood come next?"

Elia blinked. "Twelve days from now."

"My son will be in King's Landing by then. I'll stall as much as I can and if Rhaegar demands to know why I wouldn't consummate the marriage-"

"You'll tell him about the moonblood. He might force you to stay until it ends-"

"I'll have moontea for you by then," Hoster assured her.

Elia looked away from him. Years ago, the maesters spent hours tutoring her on family lines; Minisa Whent died with an infant boy. Hoster Tully hadn't been content with three children. He offered her moontea when he could have offered it to his wife. Perhaps, Lady Tully wanted more children. Elia's children came into this world with a flood of blood and pain. She couldn't imagine anyone willing subjecting themselves to that when they already had a boy but Elia has always been different so who knows?

"Thank you," she said anyway. "Lord Varys was just here... he said that Tywin wanted me to marry his son Jaime."

Hoster frowned. "I mean this with no disrespect, my lady, but you're no maiden. You already have children. Jaime Lannister is his heir; why would he..."

"I don't know. I _am_ fertile," Elia said bitterly, "and there are no eligible high born girls he can marry to his son." _It's my daughter he wants._

Hoster looked out to the city. "Robert Baratheon asked Tywin to join their alliance. We crowned him after the battle of the Stoney Sept and he offered his younger brother and heir for Tywin's daughter. Yet Tywin went with Rhaegar."

"He knew Rhaegar for years."

Hoster shook his head. "That's not it. Rhaegar came down the Trident with forty thousand men. Before that, we heard from multiple sources that Mace Tyrell had left Storm's End for the Crownlands. Tywin didn't leave Casterly Rock until that moment. Obviously it didn't happen but perhaps Tywin was expecting to see a massive army easily defeating us. He appeared from the west, Rhaegar had been losing the battle and his duel with Robert, but Tywin's position it seemed as though we were being driven back. Lyn Corbray and the Vale men had broken the eastern flank, we had pushed their centre back and most of their men were on the western bank. We looked disorganised and scattered, as though we overextended ourselves, they looked ready for an attack. Truth be told, they were readying to retreat."

"You think he came to the Trident without choosing a side?"

"His soldiers have said they didn't know who they were fighting for until they saw the Trident in the distance and the knights started shouting for Rhaegar."

Elia's mouth was open. "That can't be true. He took one look at the battlefield, assumed you were losing and he joined the royalists?"

"I'd rather believe it than imagine Tywin stands for anything. My lady, he only wants you in Casterly Rock should your family defeat Rhaegar and install your son on the Iron Throne."

"My son will be taken from me," she said. "Rhaegar wants him at the Wall."

"Rhaegar wants a great deal of things but he won't get everything. Too many people have fought the Targaryens to quietly disappear and let peace reign. As long as your son lives, people will seek him out," Hoster said. "Most of everything will be handed to Rhaegar, he is king after all, but I suspect your son will remain a thorn."

"The septons and the lords oppose the annulment-"

"The Faith is not what it used to be. Half of the Most Devout are urging the High Septon to move quicker. They depend on the king's goodwill. The High Septon is strong-willed but without the Faith Militant and with the city crawling with soldiers... it's only a matter of time."

Elia felt as though there was a noose tightening around her neck. It was too soon. She needed time for her plan to come together but Hoster Tully did not need to know that. 

"Thank you, my lord, for telling me all of these things," she said. She stood on her toes to kiss his stubbled cheek. 

They walked back to the door arm and arm before separating as it opened. They found Varys standing in front of the opposite wall looking as though he has been waiting for a while. Beside him was Ryon Allyrion, Mors of the Orphans, who used to chase Oberyn around the Water Gardens, Larra Blackmont in her white armor, and her cousin David who was missing an eye and a left hand. Tears sprung into Elia's eyes before she could gain control over herself. They all looked exhausted and battle worn. Hoster exchanged nods with them as he left.

Varys entered first and thankfully he kept walking. Even though it wasn't proper, Elia embraced Ser Ryon. Mors was weeping as he hugged her; the Orphans cared little about hiding their emotions. Larra had a hard look on her face but she kissed Elia gently. Elia's face was wet by the time her cousin wrapped his arms around her. The guard on the left closed the door and only then did Elia sob audibly.

"Little Elia," David said as he always did.

"I'm so sorry. It's my fault, it's my fault," she told him as she wept into his neck.

"What is?" David asked. Then he realised. "Oh Elia, did you think we would leave you alone in these strange lands?" He pulled away to look at her. "Did you think we wouldn't fight for Loreza's child? Oh Elia," he said as he held her again. 

Her mother had kept the family close and had given her brother a keep and her sister a port. David was supposed to be Doran's heir because Elia's older siblings had died in the cradle and in her mother's womb. He had been raised in Sunspear as Doran's companion and foster brother for a while. The sweating sickness, that swept through Dorne a decade ago, had taken Elia's father, aunt and three of her cousins, only David remained. He was here now, kissing her brow and leading her to where the others stood. 

Larra was kneeling in front of Rhaenys. Aegon was hiding behind Sara and peeking occasionally to watch his sister. "She looks just like your father," Larra said. She held out her hand and Rhaenys placed hers on top. "My name is Larra. I'm your mother's friend."

"Aegon," Elia called, "come and meet your family."

Aegon hesitantly came around Sara but he was coming to her and trying to avoid everyone else. Elia let go of her cousin and lifted her son. "This is your cousin," she said turning Aegon's head. Aegon backed his head out her grip and hid his face on her neck. "Sorry, he isn't used to people. Rhaenys had grown up in Dragonstone with my ladies and all the courtiers. Aegon had been so young when Aerys told us to come to the capital and he didn't want anyone around us. Sometimes Rhaella was allowed to visit us...." David and Mors looked sad at that, Elia could feel herself tearing up again. "Come." Elia took them to the drawing room. "Sara, wine."

Sara poured a cup for everyone except Elia, who hated how it tasted.

"What happened?" Elia asked. She had only Seen the battle as it had been ending. 

"It's was a massacre," Larra began. "They threw us at rebel swords, hoping to exhaust the enemy. Prince Lewyn organised us to outflank the rebels but Rhaegar's army didn't push forward. It felt like we were the only ones fighting and the rebels outnumbered us. By the time the rest of the Targaryen army joined the battle proper, half of us were dying."

Elia wondered if they all thought the same thing she did- that Rhaegar did it on purpose to weaken Dorne. He must have known how her family would react so he tried to eliminate some of the army until only a few survived. Elia glanced at Varys.

"Do you know about the annulment?"

Immediately they all become angry. "The men had to hold me back from challenging that man to a duel," David said. "He dishonors all of Dorne-"

"Be quiet!" Larra said openly looking at Varys.

"It's fine," Elia said. "He is a friend."

Larra looked sceptical but she spoke anyway. "They have their whole army camped around and we can barely leave our tents without being threatened... we would fight them truth be told but the soldiers... they watched as their brothers got butchered, we couldn't-"

"You did the right thing," Elia said. "You all did the right thing. I'd rather have you alive than hear you get killed." Most nights she dreamt of her children dying, the rest of the night she dreamt of the battle. Elia had never seen so many people dead but it was the sounds that horrified her the most. "You did the right thing."

Larra nodded though she still looked miserable. "What will he do to the children?"

"Kill them," Elia answered. "It's what he told me. He said I had to accept everything but it won't be enough, will it? As long as my children live, they will always be a threat to his children."

Mors shook his head in disbelief. "Remember when we escorted you to King's Landing for your wedding? We thought Rhaegar was Daeron the Good and you would be his Mariah. I'm so sorry Elia."

"We can't worry about that." Elia held Aegon tightly. "Why did Tywin join Rhaegar?" She asked Varys.

Varys answered, "Rhaegar needed him. Had he fought with the rebels, he would receive no credit and gain nothing but he saved the King and has been award the position of Hand once again."

If Tywin unburdened Rhaegar by taking Elia and Rhaenys, Rhaegar would be indebted to him greatly. Maybe it would give Tywin flexibility if Dorne goes to war as Hoster deduced.

"Elia," Ryon spoke for the first time, "do you have a plan?"

Elia did. It was reckless and could easily backfire on her. She was afraid, truly, but she still needed to act. From the moment Elia stepped into King's Landing she strived to emulate cautious Doran but now she needed to be as bold as Oberyn. There can't be any room for mistakes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is largely about truth and fiction and the narratives people build to explain the world. This means that nothing is 100% certain (except that Rhaegar is an asshole lol). I'm trying to convey that with Elia even though she can See the way no one else can. I had to nerf Elia, limit her powers and have them be affected by her chronic illness(es), otherwise this fic would be over in a single chapter. I also added some canon events- Tywin going to King's Landing after Rhaegar died. In ASOS Tywin said he would have fought Ned Stark had Aerys not opened the gates. I sort of played with that- Tywin's 'flexibility' and the fact that the rebels might not trust him because he took so long to pick a side.
> 
> I wanted Hoster to be a mixture of Catelyn and Lysa, I wanted him to be softer than his brother. I also wanted to introduce the Dornish and give Elia a moment of respite. The next few chapters are pretty important. Can't wait for you guys to see them.
> 
> Tell me what you guys think.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not beta read as usual.

Chapter 7

When Elia went to sleep that night, she kissed her children and held them close. She woke up the next day to find another letter on the balcony.

_'Your Grace,_

_May the Seven stand with you. A group of septons and brothers of the Faith have been speaking with the High Septon. Each meeting lasts hours and once one of them is finished, another takes his place. The soldiers have said His Grace is growing angry and impatient but he has yet to make a move against us. Some of the smallfolk have joined a vigil on the Mother and the Crone. We hope you'll pray as well, and strive to reconcile with your husband._

_Your friends'_

Reconcile with Rhaegar? Elia couldn't imagine a more difficult task. After Rhaegar awarded the blue rose crown to another woman, Elia had to pretend she was not angry so as not to be accused of being an angry Dornishwoman. She returned to Dorne with Rhaenys and that had been a much needed respite but she had to leave for Dragonstone. Elia wore her princess mask around the court so often that she almost convinced herself that she wasn't angry. Rhaegar certainly believed it, for a while he acted as though they were newly wed and all was well. Then he stopped. Perhaps her eyes held too much cold fury and he went to the Stark woman for comfort. How would she reconcile with him now? They were well past blue roses; he threatened her young children. Elia had a much better idea, one her 'friends' wouldn't approve of. First, though, she had to eat. 

The maids brought her twice as much food and Elia forced it all down though she kept gagging. She then wore a simple wool gown. Sara came as she usually did though this time, Elia pulled her aside.

"Are you Varys' creature?"

Sara looked genuinely confused. "Lo-lord Varys, Your Grace? No, though he did bring me back to the castle for the little prince."

Elia nodded. "You will need to follow my every command today. I'll explain later but my children's lives depend on it."

Sara looked frightened and she nodded. "I love them as though they were my own. When the others- the servants, I mean- talk about what Prin- King Rhaegar plans for them, it makes my heart hurt. They are only babes."

"And we must protect them. We must become warriors today," Elia said. Sara swallowed and nodded again.

When Rhaenys found them, Elia lifted her daughter up. "Rhaenys, do you love your mama?" Elia asked in a soft voice. 

"I do," her little girl replied.

"Remember when the bad man would come to scare us and I told you to be quiet and hide yourself?"

"Yes," Rhaenys said her voice hitching a little. She looked around as though she expected Aerys to come screaming at them.

Elia lowered her voice. "Can you do the opposite? Can you be unruly? I won't be mad. I'll even find a sweet for you." Rhaenys pulled away looking confused. Elia kissed her forehead and whispered, "Be wild. Run and scream for a while." Then she placed her daughter down. Rhaenys took a few steps and then looked back, then she was off running though she was quiet and it didn't seem all that different from what she usually did. _My children are too well behaved,_ Elia thought.

Sometime after noon, Elia started hearing shouting in the distance. Her heart started beating immediately. She closed her eyes and opened them on the main road of the city. The smallfolk were quickly gathering on either side. Some were running, others were carrying temporary stalls, they were pointing down the street and talking excitedly with each other; it was almost as if they were going to see a spectacle. In the horizon, Elia could see a wheelhouse being pulled by four large horses. Knights surrounded it as there were smallfolk gathered on that section of the road as well. People were shouting, some were laughing, others were hurling abuse. It confused Elia a little to see outrage on her behalf. She was mostly imprisoned in the Red Keep; though in the beginning while the rebellion seemed like no real threat, Aerys allowed her to give alms on behalf of House Targaryen. Did those gold and silver coins matter this much?

Elia moved closer until she was standing feet away from the wheelhouse. She got there just in time to see the first stone fly. It merely hit the top of the wheelhouse but other stones followed suit. Arthur Dayne unsheathed his sword and for a time that quelled the crowd but soon they were calling the Stark woman slurs. 

One old woman shouted, "Lord Rickard and his son are waiting for you in the throne room!" Before hiding behind a group of young men, who then started laughing. More and more people started invoking the names of the dead Starks. A few young girls had gathered to catch a glimpse of Rhaegar Targaryen's love before becoming disappointed as the woman reminded hidden. Elia saw a trader with a stall hastily arranged on the other side of the road yelling that he had love potions "that even Lady Stark would approve of."

Elia wished they directed some of this vitriol at Rhaegar but it might been hard with an army at his back. She couldn't get much satisfaction from this, it was nothing more than afternoon's laugh to these people. The closer the wheelhouse came to the Red Keep, the more serious everything became. Septons, septa and some lords were waiting yards from the castle gates. They too were shouting but their condemnations came from the Seven Pointed Star. Elia wondered if the northerner knew what it meant to have the Faith stand against you.

The gates to the Red Keep were opened to allow the wheelhouse in. Elia knew she was spending too much time watching but she had to see it to the end. Only a fraction of the court was waiting to receive the Stark woman. Rhaegar, Tywin, Rhaegar's men and Kingsguard, and Eddard Stark. A very pregnant Lyanna Stark was helped out of the wheelhouse by Gerold Hightower. She looked as though she had been crying. Rhaegar smiled widely at the sight of her but her eyes were on her brother. Lyanna grinned in relief at sight of him but Lord Stark's face was made of stone.

Elia opened her eyes. She felt dizzy and yet strangely invigorated. Perhaps things won't be as difficult as she thought they will be. She swallowed half a cup of honey and shuddered. No Dornishman would say this but Elia found the scent and taste of honey repulsive. Before her wedding to Rhaegar, her mother stuffed her with as much food as she could to try and fatten her daughter. It worked though strangers still found her too thin. Elia's pregnancies took so much from her that she spent half her days eating and holding in vomit.

Elia went to her children and repeated the instructions. This time, Rhaenys listened and soon Aegon was also running around the apartment and screaming his little head off. When the guards announced loudly that Lord Varys had arrived, Elia put on a haggard face.

"My lord," she said in greeting.

"We don't have much time," he said looking to his left where Rhaenys was knocking down chairs.

"Where is the hidden door you will use?" She asked.

Varys looked at her. "My lady, you will have-"

"-to stay. I know. I won't be leaving until the children are safely away."

Varys nodded. "Those guards serve me and they will act as lookouts." 

He walked to the drawing room's hearth which was now covered in ash and a few charred pieces and wood. Varys removed a knife, felt around in the ashes, slipped the knife near where his fingers lay. Then he pulled a metal plate until there was a hole large enough to fit him. Elia's mouth was open. The heart was unusually big and deep but she hadn't thought...

"The children... bring them. I will carry them."

Elia left and found Sara watching the children helplessly. She took the woman to her bedchamber.

"Wait here and don't say anything."

Elia grabbed Aegon while he was rolling around on the floor and then she found and lifted Rhaenys too. Both children immediately calmed down in her arms which was no good.

"Be fussy," she told them. "Please."

Both children were both tired from all that activity but Rhaenys started squirming to get to the floor which for some reason made Aegon cry. By the time Elia brought them to Varys, they were truly unruly.

"You can't carry them," she told him. "Go down that hole. I'll strap them to my body and bring them down.

"Elia," Varys began with such disapproval that it angered her.

"I will not let my children fall to their deaths because you're worried I'll start running with them. Once I get down, I'll hand them to you," Elia said with finality. Varys thankfully didn't fight her. "Where are the children for this mummer's farce?"

"I will bring them as soon as your children are safe on the boat. Do not worry," Varys said as he was climbing down, "Lyanna Stark is very upset, Rhaegar will comfort her and confront any noble who dared raise a voice against his lady. The court will be focusing on finding cracks in their new supposed queen. No one will remember you enough to come to your apartment for a few hours."

Elia sighed. "What else are they planning?" She asked loudly over Aegon's tears. Rhaenys was now alternately between squirming and talking to her younger brother in an attempt to calm him.

"Tomorrow, Rhaegar plans on presenting her as his wife in the throne room. If he has his way, everyone will only have smiles for the two of them," Varys said. He was disappearing into the dark tunnel. 

"And after that?"

"The High Septon should produce a document acknowledging the annulment," Varys' voice was now echoing up, "and you'll be sent off, perhaps to Riverrun, perhaps to Casterly Rock."

Elia carried the children to Sara. "Keep them in here," she told the wetnurse. To Rhaenys, she said, "You did very good. I love you."

Elia inhaled and exhaled as she walked back to the hearth. She closed the door to muffle any sounds and she knelt in front of the hearth.

"Elia, where are the children?"

"They are not coming. You will take them to Pentos," she told Varys. 

"Pentos?" Varys said as though he had never heard the word. "What are you talking about? Don't be silly, Elia, where are the children?

She sent tendrils that coiled around his body. 

"What is that?" Varys exclaimed as he used one hand to rub at his skin. "It feels horrible!"

"Me," Elia replied. "I was born different, my lord. The gods gifted me with powers.... You will take my children far from home, I cannot allow that."

"I'm taking your children to Dorne," Varys squealed in distress. "They will die in the Red Keep! Every day, my li- my birds hear of one plot or another. Stop this! It feels terrible! Oh, it feels terrible!"

Elia wanted to recoil from the sight. Even with little light, it looked awful the way he was thrashing.

"How will I kill them with you watching my every move?"

"I have been your friend!" Varys sobbed. "Your only friend!"

Elia looked down on him. "I know," she said sadly. Then she wrapped another tendril around his neck and squeezed. The longer she held him in that vice grip, the worse her headache became. Eventually, Varys stopped moving.

Then Elia began climbing down the rungs while moving the corpse as she went. If she left it at the bottom, the stench will attract people. She hit the ground and looked around. There were two iron doors on either side. Elia tried the one on her right and it opened easily as though it had been recently oiled. Varys floated ahead of her in the short, narrow corridor on the other side of that door. There was no door at the end of it but Elia felt an iron ring on the floor. She used a tendril to pull it open and that too was easy. First she sent the body to test the length and was dismayed to learn it was quite a distance down. It was almost the length of Maegor's Holdfast. Elia climbed down into the darkness. Her breathing was quite heavy and she was sweating from every pore. The burn in her thighs was uncomfortable in a way that was unfamiliar.

It finally ended in a round chamber with multiple doors. As exhausting as it was, Elia opened each other door. She would need to See through them later on. It occured to her that she could take her children and find her way to the docks but Elia was likely one of the very few Dornishwomen in the city, someone could identify her. No, she only had to be patient.

Elia closed her eyes and made a map of the keep in her head to try and identify her current position. Then she marked two of the doors that went in the direction of the Red Keep with ten little stones; doors that were facing the city got eight stones; doors faces the docks got six stones. Elia kept going since she needed some place to store the body. _What about his little birds?_ What will they do without the Spider directing them? Will they find a new master to serve and will they tell them about what a monstrous being Elia was? 

Behind one of the doors facing the city, there was a small storage room. Varys was too tall to fit in while lying vertically so Elia lifted him until he was standing. In near total darkness, he looked like a living man.

Elia locked the door and let go his body. It slammed onto the door and she jumped. "Sorry," she said as though he could hear her.

She climbed up with the help of her magic though it caused her more pain and drained her body of its strength. As she came up the hearth, she saw Sara who sagged in relief.

"You were supposed to stay in the bedchamber," Elia snapped as she struggled up. Sara pulled her all the way up as though Elia was a child.

"I'm so sorry, my lady, I got scared. I heard strange noises and that made me even more scared. Where is the lord?" Sara looked at the hole as though she expected him to come up.

"He left for Dorne," she told the woman. "Help me clean up."

Together, they closed the hole and scooped up displaced ashes. Elia's gown was covered in it and she removed it.

"Destroy it when you leave and tell no one."

Sara nodded as she stuff the dress into a sack.

"Those men at the door," Elia continued, "are spies. Do not look at them. Pretend as though nothing happened when you tell them I need water for bathing. I don't mention the children. Act as though they aren't here."

Elia went to the bedchamber for another gown and found that the children were sleeping. Then, after dressing herself, she went to the front door and opened it. The guards looked at her from their position in the front of the door.

"Move," she commanded and they obeyed with some hesitation. She looked down the hallway to see if anyone would see them before retreating back in the room. "Lord Varys is gone and he says he will be back after a while. You are to answer to me." She spoke as confidently as she could.

The two men, likely new recruits as Aerys killed any guard he didn't trust, exchanged looks. Elia ignored that. "What were his instructions?"

The larger one spoke, "We were to tell him about the comings and goings in your apartments, Yo- my lady. Also we were to warn him in case someone came." Varys had no real plan to stop anyone from coming into the apartments after he had taken the children.

A sharp pain flowed through Elia's head and for a moment she could not think. "You'll..." Elia opened her eyes, "be my eyes and ears in the castle until Varys comes back and I'll pay you handsomely. Anything of note that you hear from the other castle guards, you'll tell me."

Mention of payment warmed both men up towards her.

"You'll find no fault in our service, my la- Your Grace," the smaller said grinning. 

Elia closed the door and stumbled to her bedchamber. She had hoped to bathe first but between the pain and the exhaustion, she was lucky to even make it on the bed. Elia climbed in and passed out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me what you guys think :))))))))


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is mostly a show fic with a lot of book elements, characters and characterisation showing up. This means that Lyanna is an adult here. I'm still debating if I want to go with how show Rhaegar married Elia- he pursued her if I remember correctly. Or if I should stick to the books.
> 
> Anyway this is not beta read.

Chapter 8

The sun had set by the time she woke up. Her body felt weak and there were aches she was not used to. Rhaenys and Aegon were sleeping beside her and when Elia turned around, she found Sara sleeping on a chair as though she had been watching over the three of them. Elia got off the bed quietly and stretched. There was a tray of cold food on another chair. She took it and an unlit candle to the drawing room. Then she went to the balcony and found no letters. _I am your only friend._ Did Varys send the letters? Why? All it did was make Elia feel more confident... a little safer in the city. Varys knew about the letter and he told no one, though Elia never trusted him, she had felt that perhaps he was willing to help her children. Was that his motive? If the letters really came from Varys, it made her sad; it meant that she only had the Dornish to rely on. 

Elia remembered what guards told her; Varys didn't really have any plans beyond the taking the children. Were there really any children to replace hers? Elia would be caught and questioned and no matter what, she wouldn't disclose Varys' plans. Better Aegon and Rhaenys live in Pentos than in die Westeros. That was ultimately why Varys had to die, all roads led to the Free Cities for him and he would do what it took to take her babies there. Elia couldn't work with that hanging over her head. After all there was Rhaegar, Tywin, the Tullys and the Starks to contend with. 

Elia ate and gagged every few bites. She missed her brothers, she missed Oberyn's bastards, she missed little Arianne, she even missed Mellario with her sad, angry eyes; she wished her parents were alive. Her father would be old but willing to lead an army and her mother, she might even buy the services of the Faceless Men. Doran wouldn't be so reckless with his coffers with the possibility of a long war looming over them, Oberyn might. He dared to point his spear at Rhaegar in Harrenhall and as mortified as Elia was, she was also moved. There was the Dornish army just within reach but after hearing of Rhaegar's decisions in the battlefield, Elia was sure he wouldn't hesitated before ordering another massacre. This next part had to be Elia's alone; sickly Elia who was always surrounded by nurses and fretful maesters and yet life was easier back then.

Still weak, Elia reluctantly appeared in the king's solar. It was crowded, more crowded than she expected. Tywin, Myles Mooton, Richard Lonmouth, Eddard Stark, Lyanna Stark, all the living Kingsguard, and Ser Jaime, who wasn't wearing the white cloak or the gold armor she had grown used to seeing.

"Mace Tyrell will see the raven soon enough," Rhaegar assured Lord Stark. "Once he sees my command, he will end the siege and give them food." Elia wondered what had changed his mind. He had been willing to allow Stark to end the siege. Was it Tywin or Varys who told him it was an unwise move or had Rhaegar lied? 

The honourable Stark looked displeased. He was sitting beside his sister but facing away from her. "Who will convince them to surrender? Stannis... Robert said he was incredibly stubborn-"

"His brother is dead. I'll offer him concessions. His younger brother will be allowed to rule as Lord of Storm's End but Stannis must be sent to the Wall," Rhaegar said. "I have been incredibly forgiving so far but even I know it's foolish to let the Baratheons get away with rebellion unscathed."

Lyanna Stark looked a little uncomfortable. "Don't feel too bad, Ned. It's terrible that Robert died but he waged a war under false pretence."

Eddard looked at his sister with an icy glare. "We fought because our father and brother were murdered."

" _You_ fought-"

"You think Robert didn't care? He cared more than you did," Eddard snapped. Lyanna flinched in response. "He comforted me when we heard the news and swore that he would seek justice with me," Eddard snapped. "Aerys demanded our heads, we had no choice but to fight.... Robert was a good man and he would have been a good king." A long uncomfortable silence followed. Elia watched as Rhaegar struggled to reign his anger in.

"He wouldn't- it doesn't matter what he would have been, Ned," Lyanna said gently. "That part is behind us. We have to focus on the future-"

"Yes," Rhaegar hastily agreed. "The small council has its Hand and Master of War. It needs a Master of Law. Your sister tells me you understand the law better than most men-"

"I mean no offence, Your Grace, but I'm going back home with my army. After all the losses we suffered, I doubt any Northerner would remain in the south," Lord Stark said. "If that is all..."

Tywin said, "There's the matter of Lord Arryn. His Grace is taking your son and Hoster's Tully's son to ensure good behaviour but Jon Arryn has no children and all his heirs are dead. How-"

"As long as Stannis and Renly live, Jon Arryn will accept defeat," Eddard said. There was something like self loathing in his voice but Elia didn't know him enough to tell. Lyanna watched him leave sadly. Elia felt disgusted on his behalf; Oberyn was wild but he would never do something like this and he would never expect forgiveness.

"That cannot be enough," Tywin said. "What happens when Renly grows up?"

"By then Westeros would have moved on and he will be hard pressed to find allies. My children with Lyanna will tie us to the North and the Riverlands and by the time we make betrothals...." Rhaegar paused to smile at Lyanna. "I mean to rule properly. Very few would have any complaints about my kingship."

"Aside from the Dornish," Oswell Whent.

"The Dornish, I am sick to death of hearing about the Dornish," Rhaegar complained.

Lyanna took Rhaegar's hand. "I'm sure they aren't as big of a threat as you all make them out to be. Robert had the support of three kingdoms and he still lost."

"No king has ever truly conquered the Dornish," Tywin told her as though she was a small child.

"Isn't it best to keep the three of them in the Red Keep then?" Jaime asked. "Separating a mother from her children-"

"We keep them here then someone might think they are royal enough to start a war for," Rhaegar replied.

Lyanna said, "It's kinder to send them away. The children... they'll see how my children are favoured and loved and it will turn them green with envy."

Jaime grinned wryly. "That's kindness? I suppose in that case, setting someone aside is like marrying them and killing someone gives them life-"

"Jaime," Tywin said quietly. Jaime Lannister grew quietly. 

Lyanna was still glaring at him when she said, "Perhaps we can give them a proper marriage as compensation."

"No Dornish house will accept it," Arthur Dayne replied. "Dornish pride won't allow them... and it would set them against the Martells. I'm sure Oberyn will slip in poison within a week."

"Why not get rid of the Martells then?" Richard Lonmouth asked. "If they go to war, they're traitors, aren't they?" Elia glared at his face and imagined how it would look if she unleashed her powers on him. Get rid of the Martells, over Elia's dead body. "It should be easy."

Arthur gave him a cool look. "Says the man who has never stepped foot in Dorne. The smallfolk adore the Martells and they would fight anyone you install. This is why I am very reluctant about anyone finding out about my family's involvement. Doran could cast them out of Starfall and very few would object." Elia clenched her fist. Ashara... Elia thought they had been friends and she was wrong. None of the ties she had made in Dragonstone had survived the war.

"The Yronwoods? Don't they covet Sunspear?" Rhaegar asked. "They sided with the Blackfyres if I remembered without any backlash."

"The Martells took land from them and gave it to their allies," Arthur correct.

"There it is, Your Grace should offer them their lands back in addition to Sunspear," Lonmouth said. "They'll do all the fighting for you."

"You think everyone in Dorne is stupid?" Jaime asked.

Tywin silenced his son with a look. "The Dornish won't take the bait. Yronwood men likely died at the Trident and one or two houses isn't enough to start a civil war.... You could buy a faceless assassin. The coffers are full and can withstand such a price."

"You will need to rebuild, Your Grace," Myles said speaking up for the first time. "Lord Tywin's plan has merit but your army needs to be paid and the war has destroyed castles and keeps and towns."

"Rebuilding can wait," Tywin retorted, "the Martells area more urgent matter. It's best if you secured marriages for loyal knights in the Reach-"

"Mace Tyrell sat out the war, perhaps you can instead send the Tyrell army to fight the Dornish," Lonmouth suggested. "They have equal numbers now and the Reachers despise the Dornish. They will relish at the chance to spill Dornish blood." Arthur looked outraged at the suggestion as though he had any right.

Tywin glared at Lonmouth. "Do I have to remind you what happened the last time a Tyrell army marched into Dorne? They disappeared in the sand. Lord Tyrell found scorpions in his bed. I assure you the Dornish would be very eager to spill Reacher blood and they might win."

"What should we do? Not fight. If the Tyrell army isn't enough, we should all march with them-

"Dorne does not bend easily," Arthur retorted.

"I was there at the Trident and I saw Dornish soldiers falling like flies," Lonmouth shot back. "They die just as easily as anyone."

"Enough!" Rhaegar shouted slamming his hand.

Lyanna stood up. "Perhaps there isn't any need for war," she said. Jaime snorted. "Ser Jaime do you have something to say to me?"

Jaime smiled benignly. "There's nothing I can say that hasn't already been said by many, many-"

"Jaime, wait outside for me," Tywin said.

"Your Grace," Jaime bowed to Rhaegar before leaving the room without acknowledging Lyanna.

Myles took his place. "I have a suggestion. Perhaps you should do away with the annulment."

"My child will not be born a bastard!" Lyanna protested as she looked to Rhaegar for help. For a moment, Elia couldn't decided who she hated more between the two of them.

Myles ignored her. "Aegon the Conqueror had two wives." Elia physically recoiled at the idea. Being thrown at different men was just as repulsive as staying married to Rhaegar.

Rhaegar wiped his face as though he was exhausted. "The High Septon is reluctant to give me an annulment and you think he'll accept a second marriage?"

"The septons are saying annulling a legitimate marriage will bring the gods' wrath on House Targaryen," Myles said. "A second marriage isn't quite as egregious. You can give Aegon Summerhall so he'll have lands of his own."

"And my children? Will only the oldest son inherit? Summerhall could go to my second son," Lyanna said.

"Aegon _is_ the oldest son," Myles reminded her. Lyanna glared at him but she couldn't dispute it. Elia almost felt affection for Myles.. 

Richard Lonmouth spoke again. "Why not accuse Elia Martell of adultery? How sure are you that she remained true to you? Dornishwomen are wanton- everyone knows that- even sickly ones. She is pretty enough to seduce men. She also brought men to court with her, how do we know that she didn't bring a lover with her? They would hold small feasts in her apartments with singers. Perhaps the singing was a cover."

"Perhaps," Rhaegar said uncertainly.

"If you accuse her before the gods, the Martells can't wage a legitimate war, can they?" Lonmouth continued. "You can show mercy to the children and send them wherever you intended to. Lord Varys could testify, everyone knows that man has eyes everywhere, even in Dragonstone. King Aerys did bring him to Westeros to spy on you."

Lyanna turned to Rhaegar. "Could it be true? At Harrenhal, some of the women called her pious because she went to the sept all day." Something told Elia that Lyanna was hoping it was true.

"Those who present themselves as pious tend to commit the most sins," Lonmouth replied. "Jon always called her sly. She probably knew what people thought of Dornishwomen so she made herself look different." _This one had to die,_ Elia decided, _and soon._

"She did think her image was important," Rhaegar said. Elia had told him that after they arrived in Dragonstone. He had told her that they would need to work together and Elia divulged some of the advice her mother gave her. To turn it against her... Elia didn't know why she was surprised.

Lonmouth nodded. "There it is. All you need to do is find guards in Dragonstone and you'll find the truth."

"What if you're all wrong?" Barristan asked. "You would be condemning an innocent woman...."

"And one whose ladies have returned to Dorne. They can testify on Elia's behalf in Sunspear. That will all but guarantee war," Myles added.

Rhaegar looked almost relieved. _The bastard knows I had been faithful, there's very little doubt of that in him._ It made Elia sick.

Lyanna played with the sleeve of her dress. "We could invite them to the negotiating table. Wouldn't it be difficult to put Elia's son on the throne? Perhaps you can give them back the dowry."

"A few gold coins won't fix anything," Tywin cut in. "Marry Elia to Jaime and you will make things difficult for the Martells. They know House Lannister will stand by your side and her child will be my son's heir. Hoster Tully is sly and as soon as he thinks there's a chance you might be defeated, he'll join forces with the Martells. Maidenpool will fall and Aegon will be in his grasp."

"You could send the children north, Ned will look after them and make sure the boy joins the Night's Watch," Lyanna suggested.

"Not both children, only the boy. The girl is no threat and you will look... kinder if you keep her with her mother for a time," Tywin said.

Rhaegar sighed. "I need to think."

"You're running out of time. The Spider mentioned this morning that Prince Doran has sent Dornish soldiers to secure the Prince's Pass. The roads won't be safe for travel for long," Tywin said.

Rhaegar screwed his eyes shut. Without his scrolls, he was lost. It used to be Elia making decisions for him or trying to find the best choice. Now... Rhaegar only had himself. Not quite the perfect king everyone was expecting.

"Fine. Ser Jaime and Elia will be wed as soon as the annulment is secured. The boy will go to Winterfell and the girl to Casterly Rock," he announced.

There was a brief flash of triumph on Tywin's face before he bowed.

"Hopefully Elia Martell won't fight it," Lonmouth said.

"She won't," Rhaegar said confidently. "She loves those children."

"I'll talk to her just in case," Lyanna said.

"No," Rhaegar said. "There's no need, my love."

Lyanna smiled. "It's fine. She doesn't frighten me and I don't want anyone thinking otherwise."

Elia grinned. She felt like one of Oberyn's snakes watching its unsuspecting prey. 

She opened her eyes to Sara's face which had been very close.

"I'm sorry," Sara said moving away. "I had been calling you and you weren't responding.... Where do you go when you close her eyes?"

"Somewhere terrible," Elia answered. Even while sitting she felt very weak. "Sara, I'd like to bathe. Would you help me?"

"Of course, my lady."

Once the tub was filled, Sara helped Elia in. She cleaned Elia's body meticulous.

While scrubbing Elia's back, Sara asked, "I hope I'm not offending you by asking but how did you get these scars on your back?"

"Kingswood outlaws," Elia answered. "Aerys had summoned me to King's Landing to show me what would happen should I betray him. I think the man's name was Olyvar... he died screaming and then I was dismissed. I hadn't travelled much growing up, my brothers went far and wide and I was stuck in Sunspear so I decided to travel by the Kingsroad to see more of Westeros. The journey started out wonderfully, I stayed in two castles, gave alms in three septs... there were children running on either side of my wheelhouse. My ladies were rather bored but I was happy and dreading the end of the journey. It was a balm for my soul after what I had witnessed.

"We were attacked at night. We were so close to a keep- I can't remember which one- that everyone felt safe, outlaws would be stupid and reckless to come after us there, the keep's guards could join the fray and they would get captured, we thought. They came anyway. An arrow went through the window and struck Alia Santagar in the neck. She was thirteen and she had tried to dye her hair red but it was so black, very little showed. The other arrow missed. Then a while later the door was forced open.

The man... I couldn't see his face, the moon was behind some clouds, but I can remember what his laugh sounded like and how he smelt. There were others and they took the jewels but he grabbed me and when I fought, he killed Eleyne Fowler. She had been my age and we played sometimes in the Water Garden. She had been screaming," Elia remembered," and begging and then she went quite. I went with him for the others and he took a kiss." He had done more than that. His hands had been hiking her skirt up when Barristan came roaring with reinforcements. Elia hadn't told anyone what happened which meant the man who attacked her was allowed to go to the Wall. In Dragonstone, a week later, the maesters announced her pregnancy. Elia spent the next month terrified that someone will say the child was his, even though he hadn't yet raped her. It had been her fault, if she went by sea those girls would be alive. The knights who came with them to find employment under Rhaegar would have been alive. Elia had so much blood on her hands. Perhaps Rhaegar was her punishment from the gods... yet her children were innocent. They didn't deserve any of this.

"I'm sorry," Sara said before embracing Elia from behind. Elia felt herself melting into the hug. "Your friends... may they rest easily for eternity... My lady I don't mean to overstep but when I lost my babe, I thought to myself, 'This pain will pass and the gods will bless me with an easy life.' May they bless you the same."

Elia made ripples in the water with her mind. "May your prayers be heard."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me what you guys think.
> 
> Turns out annulling a marriage is difficult work and has many consequences, who would have thought?
> 
> Given how guilty Jaime felt in canon, I figured he'd be more team Elia than team Lyanna. He also looked up to Rhaegar and felt like he let him down which is why I couldn't make him mock Rhaegar :( 
> 
> Without Varys there to hype up other alternative to Tywin's plan (Highgarden), Rhaegar followed Tywin's plan. Btw the only reason Varys wanted the kids to go to Highgarden is so he can kidnap them along the way since there no Tyrell soldiers who can escort them. There are Lannister and Tully soldiers but if the kids or Rhaenys only go to Highgarden, they would be escorted by Targaryen guards, men Varys is familiar with.
> 
> Was he the sole author of the letters? We will find out soon.
> 
> Edit: I was thinking that the next chapter should be in Lyanna's POV and not Elia's. What do you guys think?


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I continue to be amazed at the sheer number of comments this fic receives.
> 
> Thank you for reading.

Chapter 9

Lyanna made sure she was out of sight while she looked out of the window. Rhaegar had banned gatherings to stop those septons, who had been turning the people of King's Landing against her. Yet here they were gathered in front of the castle gates. Some were praying, others were demanding an audience with the king. What did they hope to accomplish? Rhaegar loved her, they were married in front of a septon, the annulment... it will come any day now. Still Lyanna had stayed out of sight. The last time they caught a glimpse of her when she came to say farewell to Ned and his men, they cursed her, named her an outsider and prayed for the gods to send their wrath upon her. At least Ned seemed angry on her behalf as he asked the guards to scatter the crowd but he left without saying anything and without looking back. 

_Ned will come around._ Lyanna hadn't known him as well as she did their other siblings but there were only three Starks left now. Ned left so quickly, she barely spent any time around him. It made her sad, she had been hoping for at least a week before he went to Storm's End. She had written to Benjen to thank him for keeping silent about her plans and to ask him to come to King's Landing. It was so lonely without him. The remaining northerners wanted nothing to do with her, they were polite and they used her proper title as Queen but Lyanna could tell she was no longer Lord Rickard's darling daughter. They hated the Targaryens too much to be happy for her. Lyanna hoped to appoint some of them to the vacant offices in the city and Rhaegar was receptive to that. In a year, the rift between the North and the Targaryens will heal. Lyanna was sure of it.

The gathering of septons was starting to get [raucous].

"Where is King Rhaegar?" A man in what looked like a sack shouted. 

"Hiding in that Northern whore's skirt," another shouted back. Many laughed but it was more derisive than mirthful.

 _I'm not a whore!_ Lyanna would retort if she could. Rhaegar didn't take her maidenhead until they were man and wife. Targaryens of old had taken multiple wives and each wife was as true as the other. Sometimes Lyanna wondered if it would be better if Rhaegar kept Elia. She was more of a lady than Lyanna. It would pain Lyanna as her children would inherit little but she didn't want to be hated. The smallfolk had been so cruel when she arrived.... In Winterfell, they shouted her name when she rode past them. Here they only shouted slurs.

"Disperse!" The captain of the guards shouted at the septons. Lyanna had been introduced to him but she couldn't remember his name, she had been too busy trying not to weep in front of everyone. 

"Where is the King?"

"He spits on the Faith and the gods and he hides in that castle like a coward!" A different man shouted. "Tell him to show his face!"

"Disperse I said!" The captain roared back.

Lyanna watched as more and more guards gathered. She could see men with gold cloaks coming in the distance. Were they Lannister men? She didn't know but she could tell that the septons were about to be surrounded. The gates were opened and the guards rushed out wielding wooden clubs that they brought down on the closest septons. The crowd broke but they ran into the men with gold cloaks who used used sheathed swords like whips. Soon the septons were shouting in pain and calling for help.

Lyanna could see dozens of people leaving their homes and running towards the castle. An old woman pushed past the gold cloaks and tried to use her body to shield that of an old, bloodied septon but she went down too. Lyanna gasped in horror and she moved into the open.

"Stop them!" She shouted down at a castle guard. She was so loud, in an effort to be heard, that she felt breathless afterwards.

"The King's orders, Your Grace," one of the men shouted up at her.

"I am telling you to stop them." She turned to Ser Oswell Whent, who has been shadowing her since she arrived in the city. "Go to Rhaegar-"

"Your Grace, he told me not to leave your sight for whatever reason."

Lyanna turned back to see more people wrestling with the guards and being beaten. A teenage boy picked up a large rock and hurled at a guard's head. It bounced off the guard's helmet and soon the boy found him fending off attacks from five enraged men. In the distance, Lyanna saw a girl in a faded blue dress running down streets and knocking on doors. 

Lyanna hitched up her annoyingly long skirt and went to look for Rhaegar herself. She had never hated being pregnant as much as she did as she struggled up the stairs. Eventually she ordered Whent to carry her, no longer caring about looking weak. Rhaegar was in his solar alone thankfully. He looked up in surprise and then in worry when they burst in.

"You have to stop them," Lyanna said reaching for him. "They're beating old women!" She had tears in her eyes and that made it hard to see which must be why Rhaegar looked unsurprised and unbothered.

"Beating?" Rhaegar looked at Whent in askance as though he didn't believe Lyanna's word. Lyanna disliked that about him. He was better at listening than Robert but he always looked to the men for their opinions.

"You told them to disperse any gathering," Whent said sounding bored. He had been her least favourite of Rhaegar's Kingsguard for this reason. Whent never seemed to really care about anything. Lyanna didn't like most of the Kingsguards truth be told. Barristan Selmy too stood by and did nothing while Aerys burnt her father, brother and hundreds of men. _So did sweet Gerold,_ a voice in her head said. He was different though, he chose Rhaegar in the end and he was so kind to her.

"I didn't say they beat them," Rhaegar said calmly. Lyanna was both relieved and mortified. Did he really have no control over his men? In Winterfell, Lord Stark's word was followed precisely. Rhaegar didn't seem enraged by their behaviour the way she had hoped. "What are old women doing with the septons? I distributed food from the granaries to the smallfolk-"

"I'm sure they were grateful but it was a single meal for a few thousand people," Whent cut in. "They only came when they saw the septons and begging brothers bleeding."

"Tell them to cease everything," Rhaegar said sighing. "Should I send the maesters to help with the injuries?" He asked Lyanna.

"Yes and quickly," Lyanna said. All her anger at Rhaegar leaving her. He was acting at least. "You need to discipline those men-"

"I will not," Rhaegar said to her disappointment.

"They were following orders, Your Grace. You should be more specific next time."

Lyanna felt compelled to defend her husband. "He told them to chase them away, not to break open their heads." Still she agreed with Whent. These people of King's Landing were not good, they had blood lust in them, Rhaegar should have known that. Those same guards did nothing while her father, brother and hundreds of others were burnt by Aerys. They followed his every command; of course they would hurt defenseless old women. 

"He told them to disperse the crowd," Whent replied. "This is what happens when you disperse crowds."

"Oswell, enough. Just go." Rhaegar turned to Lyanna. "I'm sorry you had to see that. It must have been so upsetting." Something about his words sounded pointed. Lyanna wondered if they were meant for Whent who finally left. 

It was just the two of them. Rhaegar cupped Lyanna's swollen belly and pressed his forehead against her. He looked grey up close with bags under his eyes. Lyanna knew he was not sleeping well. 

"Are you alright?" She asked.

"No, being king is difficult. I didn't think I would miss being a prince in Dragonstone."

With Elia? Lyanna felt silly for being jealous. Had Rhaegar cared about Elia, Lyanna would not be here. "Dragonstone is smaller than Westeros."

Rhaegar smiled. "So it is. I was going through our ledgers. The older ones are mess. My father's ability to fill his small council was never good. Lord Tywin did everything on his behalf. When he left, my father installed 3 men, one of whom could not count. Fortunately, he passed the duty on to Elia for a while and she at least organised everything and kept proper records.... It is too bad women aren't allowed in the small council."

 _You could change that,_ Lyanna thought, _you are the King now._ Instead she said, "You think she would agree?"

"Once she might have. In Dorne she had been her mother's treasurer and in Dragonstone. I do think she hates me too much to accept."

Rhaegar never really spoke of his first marriage except to assure Lyanna that Elia never loved him.

"I should speak to her right now," Lyanna said. "If the two of us appear together in front of everyone, it should keep the peace." Rhaegar nodded. He kissed her softly. 

As Lyanna walked to Maegor's Holdfast, she looked down on her belly. "I hope you see all the trouble we're going through for you, Brandon. I hope you'll become an obedient boy." Rhaegar had wanted a girl named Visenya but Lyanna wanted two boys she could name after her fallen brother and father. 

At the bridge, Lyanna could hear a lot of shouting and she could see small fires, a few a good distance away from the castle gates. There was a man there watching everything. Lyanna assumed he was yet another guard or a knight.

"What is going on?" She asked.

"A riot."

A riot? "This quickly?"

The man looked at her and her belly. He seemed to be sneering. "How quickly do you think riots form?"

Lyanna looked at him and saw that he was darker than anyone she had met. "You're a Dornishman."

"A Martell to be specific." His armor was rich enough and he looked similar to the dreadful Red Viper.

Lyanna backed away from him. She shouldn't have come without a Kingsguard. _You're a Stark of Winterfell and a queen, don't let him frighten you._ Yet her voice betrayed her when she asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Visiting my cousin," he answered. "Why are you here?"

"This is my castle, I can go wherever I want," Lyanna snapped. Then she winced at how childish she sounded. "I am here to see Lady Martell-"

"Princess," the man corrected. Then his smile became vicious. "I'm glad to hear that you are going to visit her." He stepped aside. "Let me not hold you back."

For one moment, Lyanna felt the urge to run back to Rhaegar. Something told her that going forward would be a mistake but she started walking; she was not a coward. She walked up a set of stairs determinedly and behind her she thought she heard laughter. It seemed she was expected because no one seemed surprised as she walked into her husband's first wife's apartment.

Elia Martell was thinner than she had been in Harrenhal, worryingly thin. Lyanna wondered if the maester- the old one whose name she couldn't remember- had attended to her yet. The children were there too, chasing each other. Lyanna tried to ignore them though her eyes kept finding the boy; he looked shockingly like Rhaegar, the same eyes, the same nose, the same mouth. The little girl had some of Rhaegar's features too. That mean Elia had been faithful, no matter what that knight said. It also meant their marriage was true. Would the gods really curse Lyanna for tearing it apart? She pushed that thought aside.

At Harrenhal, there had been a lot of commotion when Rhaegar and Elia arrived. Lyanna remembered feeling bitter and jealous. Elia Martell seemed like the sort of woman Rickard Stark would be proud to have as a daughter. She carried her baby with grace, spoke calmly with the dozens who had gathered to welcome the prince and his wife, made sure to walk a bit behind Rhaegar at all time. Elia even smiled when she saw Lyanna hanging back with a scowl on her face. Had Lyanna been born as meek and lovely as Elia, she would have been happy with her betrothal to Robert. Lyanna had found, in her own way, a highborn Southern husband like her father wanted. It was too bad that her father passed away before he could see her become queen, Rickard had never been angry with Lyanna for too long and eventually even Brandon would come around to support her.

Lyanna knew she had to be gentle with the woman. "How are you faring?" Elia simply raised an eyebrow. Lyanna could feel herself turning a little red. "Do you need anything? Are these rooms to your liking?"

"They are better than the black cells," Elia replied. "Why are you here?" She had a cold voice and her black eyes showed nothing, not even hatred.

Lyanna did not know what to say but she spoke anyway. "The city- the situation," Lyanna paused and looked away from those cold eyes, "the smallfolk are fighting the castle guards. I was hoping that the two of us could calm the city down."

Elia tilted her head. "What does that have to do with me?"

"People are getting hurt and," Lyanna loathed admitting this, "they seem to be doing this in your name. Yours and your children."

"And what are they saying?" Elia asked. 

She seemed genuinely curious so Lyanna answered. "They are saying I'm an interloper in your marriage and that Rhaegar is profaning the sanctity of marriage." They were wrong, Rhaegar came to her and, while annulment was a strong move, it was permissible within the Faith. That was what Septon Raynard told them.

"So you want me to help you?"

Offended, Lyanna snapped, "People are getting hurt-"

"You don't care about that. You want me to help you," Elia repeated.

The accusation stung. "Of course I care. What sort of person..." Lyanna stopped. "I saw it happen, it was horrible. I just want to make sure it doesn't happen again."

"Thousands have died between the city and the Trident and you traipse through as though none of it matters," Elia said. "You don't care about them, you just want them to like you. Some part of you recognises that they will never love you and that is what worries you. Regardless, I will not do as you ask."

Lyanna's temper flared. "Rhaegar could make you."

"He'll have to put me in chains first." Elia's voice remained cold and her eyes, it was as if Lyanna wasn't even there. Was this what Rhaegar had to live with? No wonder he spent months sending letters to her in Winterfell.

"You're only doing this because I married Rhaegar, because I won him."

"You're very smart to deduce that," Elia replied dryly. "I'm sure you spent the past year feeling quite proud of yourself but your price is a man with a rotten soul who would see his children dead if I let him."

"Are you mad? Rhaegar, he keeps defending you." _He called you a good woman._ "He wants to arrange a good marriage for you, the kind a sickly woman who lost her maidenhead would never receive."

"Is it madness to repeat someone else's words? He sat where you are now sitting and he promised I would watch them die," Elia said. Lyanna shook her head and that amused Elia. "You are still pretending you care about the well-being of others. Tell me the possibility did not occur to you. It must have, it is a long way to Dorne."

"How did you know?" Lyanna asked surprised. "And no, it didn't occur to me. I thought we would be sister wives. I would be Rhaenys and you would be Visenya. It wasn't until-"

"Don't lie," Elia snarled. Her anger was so sudden that Lyanna flinched away. "You cannot hope to fool me or anyone. Those smallfolk you're desperate to mollify see you for who you are and they'll see Rhaegar for the monster he is soon enough.... Sister wives? Did your mother never teach you anything?"

"You keep my mother out of this!" Lyanna shouted. "You have no right-"

"Or what? What can you do, Lyanna? Will run to Rhaegar and weep your eyes out about the Dornish viper?"

"He won't allow you to talk to me like this."

Elia smiled and Lyanna felt as though she said the wrong thing. "And that is why those people at the gates were beaten."

Because they insulted Lyanna? "Rhaegar didn't order them-"

"Be smart, girl, for once in your life. Aerys changed guards as often as he breathed. Most of those guards have not been in the Red Keep for long. They were likely hired by the steward on Rhaegar's behalf," Elia said. "He did that for you or for himself. If they insult and reject you, they insult and reject his choices. Rhaegar isn't used to not being beloved and celebrated."

Lyanna shook her head. "You're wrong."

"I'm not and you know it."

"Rhaegar told them to chase them away, that is all."

"So the guards disobeyed his direct orders? He must punish them. I'm sure that right now he is sending his soldiers to protect the septons and the smallfolk and soon there will be trials for the captains in charge of the guards." Elia had a mean smile on her face the entire time she talked.

Lyanna didn't know what to say to that. "Rhaegar wouldn't-"

"You've used him as a threat twice," Elia pointed out

"No, not because of that. It's because," Lyanna's voice caught. _It's because I have no power here._ In Winterfell everyone respected her. Here Lyanna could only hope to be spoken to properly. She has chastised several people already and it's not even half a week since she arrived. "You're wrong and you're lying. Everyone knows Dornishmen lie."

"Regardless, I don't fear Rhaegar. What can he do to me that he hasn't done?" Elia asked. "He murdered my uncle, he killed thousands of my countrymen, he has imprisoned me with the help of his father. You have no power here, Lyanna Stark."

"I have more than you," Lyanna retorted weakly.

Elia grinned again. Her smiles transform her face, they make her face look soft and honest. "That isn't saying much.... I have to say I am a little disappointed that you have so much trust in Rhaegar. I thought you'd see how he treats me and realise he could do the same to you."

Lyanna laughed though she did not feel confident. "Look at what he sacrificed for me."

Elia looked around theatrically. "I don't see anything.... He barely knew the children and I was dying when he left. His friends are all alive, his father died conveniently, he has a throne, an alliance. You're the one whose father burnt to death."

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Lyanna fought the urge to cover her ears.

"People hate him," Elia continued, "I suppose then he lost their love. Though he does have the chance to finally fulfill the prophecy."

Despite herself, Lyanna asked, "What prophecy?"

Elia looked at her with genuine surprise. "What do you mean what prophecy? The prince who was promised? The three heads of the dragons."

Lyanna shook her head. "What does that mean?"

"He never told you?" Elia asked. Lyanna shook her head, feeling incredibly stupid. "Jaehaerys and Shaera found a witch and she told them someone from their line will become the prince who was promised. Rhaegar dreams often of the world ending, I'm sure he told you that... why are you shaking your head?" Elia asked surprised again. "Did he tell you Summerhall?"

"We went there before we went Dorne," Lyanna answered. "He didn't say anything afterwards." Why didn't he say anything? Did he think Lyanna wouldn't believe him.

Elia's eyes now held pity. "I'm sure he dreamt something significant there."

Lyanna thought back. She remembered picking flowers and hoping to ride her horse for a few hours. Some part of her had been terrified that Brandon would burst through the trees and take her to their father.

"That was the first time he mentioned annulment," Lyanna said. Before then Lyanna had hoped Rhaegar would divorce Elia or at least he wouldn't live with her but Lyanna never thought... Did he really make the decision based on a dream? _A prophetic dream, he must have seen our children in all our glory._ If he hadn't though, Lyanna's life would be easier and worse. Rhaegar must have known the risks that would come with annulments, he must have done it because he loved Lyanna. _Rhaegar dreams often of the world ending._ Lyanna hugged herself.

Elia nodded. "It doesn't surprise me. Before he crowned you, we shared a bed and he spent the entire night tossing and turning and saying phrases I didn't understand."

Lyanna felt as though cold water had been thrown on her. Rhaegar crowned her because he had a dream? He told her he did to honor her; she had been the knight of the laughing tree. Was anything else real? It must be... Brandon... Father. It had to be. The dreams were only guides, Rhaegar didn't have to follow them. _But he chose to follow them._ Lyanna shivered and she felt tears fall from her eyes.

"Don't expect me to comfort you," Elia said. "I would tell you to go to your brother but he was sent away."

"No, Ned wanted to leave." _He wanted to get away from me,_ Lyanna thought sadly.

"I don't blame him but he was sent away. Rhaegar was worried he was upsetting you."

Lyanna opened her mouth and closed it several times. "He was but that is what siblings do." Ned didn't mean to hurt her. How could Rhaegar not see that? She could have spent a few more days with Ned; they would have been closer to reconciliation. Why did Rhaegar take that away from her? Why did he set soldiers on unarmed peasants? Lyanna never asked for that, she wouldn't want it. Yet Rhaegar did it anyway. Lyanna shivered.

"I doubt Rhaegar knows what siblings do but you should talk to him... for your brother's sake," Elia said. "Tell him you don't mind your brother's anger and that you love him very much."

Lyanna nodded. Rhaegar might do something terrible again and if he had one of those dreams, those dreams that governed his life... how will Lyanna stop him? Lyanna never imagined that she would fear Rhaegar. She opened her mouth to ask Elia for advice and closed it when she remembered Elia couldn't stop him either. 

"Your poor brother," Elia said conversationally, "he held Robert's corpse while the fighting raged on around him. Oberyn would forgive me anything but Eddard Stark grew up with Robert and not you. If forgiveness is something you're looking for, it will take a very long time before you receive it."

Lyanna was weeping now. "It's not my fault. It's not. Robert believed his own lie." What sort of woman did he think Lyanna was? That she could be kidnapped and raped, that she needed him to rescue her? Lyanna had felt so humiliated and angry when Rhaegar told her. It wasn't her fault. "How do you know all of this?"

"That _is_ a lot for a prisoner to know," Elia acknowledged. "Varys told me."

"The Spider?" That morning, Rhaegar commented that the man had been missing and that no one could find him. "Where is he?" Lyanna had questions of her own.

"He is dead," Elia answered.

Lyanna's first thought was, _why did Rhaegar kill him?_ "How do you know?"

"Oh Rhaegar told me," Elia replied. Lyanna's heart sank. "He didn't like how sympathetic Varys was towards me." Lyanna noted that Elia didn't seem to feel sorry for her friend but her mind was racing. "I'm sure you would have loved to talk to him. He was here when your brother and father died. He knew when Septon Raynard left King's Landing. He told me about Rhaegar's meetings with his father and all the plans they made. It's why I am here and not in Dragonstone."

Lyanna felt bile rising. Brandon.... Rhaegar wouldn't.... Brandon would have come around, he wouldn't have been a threat. _A threat._ Lyanna felt faint. Rhaegar wouldn't. He loved her, didn't he? His father acted alone. Rhaegar didn't know; he had been so surprised when they learnt the news. All the plans that they made.... _He wouldn't, he wouldn't, he wouldn't._

"I have to leave," Lyanna said and she ran out as fast as she could in her state. But where she go? She had no friends and Benjen was so far away. She could go to Rhaegar, demand answers, tell him... what? Lyanna felt lost and scared.

Halfway down the corridor, Lyanna felt something rope-like wrap itself around her arm and stomach. In the next moment she was gasping in pain. She tried writhing away from the feeling. Was she going into labour? No! It was too early. Other invisible ropes coiled around her body and Lyanna screamed. It was the worst pain she had ever experienced. Her mind was invaded with horrible visions; Lyanna saw Brandon's face turn red as he struggled to reach her, she saw her father dancing in the wildfire, she saw a sword enter Robert's eye.

"No! No! Stop it!" Lyanna stumbled towards the stairs. She need Rhaegar, she need a maester. "Make it stop it!" She couldn't move her arms to claw at her eyes. Her mother was bleeding to death. _That wasn't me! It was Benjen!_ A thousand men met their deaths in the battlefield. Lyanna screamed a excruciating pain shot through her body. "Help me! Help me!" She sobbed.

She was at the edge of the stairs now. Lyanna felt herself lift off the ground. For a moment, she was flying. Then she slammed into the steps as though she weighed as much as a horse. Every bone in her body seemed to shatter. For several agonising moments, Lyanna was conscious. Blood filled her mouth, she couldn't breath and fluid gushed out her vagina. Then, mercifully, she fell unconscious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So THAT happened. Despite everything I can't help but feel sorry for Lyanna. Elia was in her element, in a way she's exactly like Lyanna remembered in Harrenhal. How much of what Elia told Lyanna was true and how much was false... I hope you guys can guess based on what information I gave so far. I wanted to give Lyanna a sort of mini arc in this chapter and I hope her terror and doubts in the end were believable and they don't seem forced. As for why Elia would fuck with Lyanna's mind and then slam her almost to death... Lyanna will have to talk to Rhaegar and you know she would rather be in denial. She won't even admit that she's happy with the annulment. Anyway, the conflict between the two would make Rhaegar miserable but Elia doesn't just want him to be miserable. She also had to look out for her kids and that annulment is a death sentence for Elia (through childbirth) and Aegon (since he is a trueborn son no matter what Rhaegar says).
> 
> I started this series 2 years ago. Back then there were very few Elia fics and I honestly felt like people focused too hard on Lyanna after Annulmentgate. You would think that she was the victim. Sure people romanticised Rhaegar and Lyanna's relationship despite the age gap but what about Elia? That could be the title of this fic series. I started by focusing on Elia's situation- in the first fic, she is safe but stressed out and Rhaegar came with a pregnant Lyanna. I continued exploring that- Elia being pushed to the side, Elia being denied happiness, Elia surviving the worst. I'm not quite in the same place as the rest of the fandom- I will reach the 'Dorne secedes, Elia marries________, Rhaegar faces another civil war' stage but right now I'm still exploring the immediately fallout of Rhaegar's decisions and how they affect Elia specifically. I know GRRM won't, I know Elia will be a footnote in his books but in my fics, she's human, she matters.
> 
> Thank you all for reading my fics and for leaving so many comments. I appreciate it.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long delay. My country is opening prematurely and I had to send out resumes :/
> 
> Just a warning- this is a really dark chapter.

Chapter 10

There was such a commotion after poor Lyanna slipped and fell that Elia was worried someone might burst into her apartments to ask her questions. No one did for a long while. A new courtier Elia had not met came to inform her as though she could not tell. Elia looked worried as she spoke to him; it wouldn't do to seem bored or excited. She then had a quiet dinner with her children and Sara, who now slept in one of the bed chambers.

"There was so much blood, Your Grace," Sara informed her. "I know she was not a good woman but... it was just horrible."

Elia nodded. "It was." Yet, she felt exhilarated. That was a little difficult to accept. Elia was a lady and ladies don't kill and they certainly don't take pleasure in seeing people in pain. All the maidens and mothers in the songs were kind and gracious even to their enemies; Elia couldn't find it in herself to be either of those things. Perhaps if she hadn't felt as though there was a sword hanging above her children... though she had to admit, even then she wouldn't be forgiving.

"She brought it on herself," Elia continued. "Had she remained in the North, she wouldn't be in such a state."

"That is what people are saying," Sara replied. "I think it was merely an accident. I don't mean to blaspheme, Your Grace, but I don't think the gods care about our squabbles... not that what she did was a squabble-"

"I understand, Sara, and you're right," Elia said. "I suppose people like the idea that some things are meant to happen, that evil will be balanced with good... that whatever terrible thing that happens to us is part of a grand plan and one day we will pass peacefully into the hereafter and our enemies will perish in hell."

Sara smiled. "It sounds a bit like a fairy tale. Has anyone ever seen hell? I haven't read the holy book so I like the pretend it cares more about good deeds than burning in sulfur."

"The septons don't agree," Elia replied. Thank goodness they did not. Without them Lyanna wouldn't have fallen into Elia's web. 

Aegon yawned and curled up into a ball on his chair. Rhaenys was forcing herself to swallow her bowl of mash potatoes and peas. Thank goodness, Elia thought again watching them. She should look to see what was happening to Lyanna but she felt fairly certain that the Stark woman would die. It had been risky lifting the girl but Elia had to make sure she would hit the steps as hard as she did. 

Elia went to sleep after making sure her children would not roll off the bed. She woke up feeling better rested than she had in a long time. The small family broke fast with fruits, buttered bread and stew, and tea for Elia. She decided to play with her children, chasing them and Sara all over the apartments. Then they played a game of hide and seek before their noon meal. It felt good bathing; she did not have access to her oils and fragrances but she cleaned her body thoroughly and then dried her children while kissing them while they giggled and squirmed.

Later, as the sun was setting, Elia transported herself to the Tower of the Hand. As she went up to the small council room, Pycelle passed through her. Elia was surprised Rhaegar would let him leave poor Lyanna's sick bed. The small council was wrapping up. Richard Lonmouth was present which surprised Elia. He had a large tome on him and was no longer wearing armor. Was he the master of coin? Elia would have thought Rhaegar would leave it open for Jon Connington; she disliked the man immensely but he knew to balance ledgers.

Soon only Tywin Lannister was left alone sitting at the head of the table, looking as though he was deep in thought. Elia took a seat though her form did not need it. A short while later, Kevan Lannister came.

"Pycelle said you have need of me."

"Sit," his brother replied without looking at him. "Did he tell you about the state Rhaegar's woman is in?"

Kevan shook his head. "I'd imagine it was not good."

"I'd say she has one leg in the grave but that would be understating it." Tywin snorted. "He married a wildling, an ugly one at that. What sort of idiot runs while carrying a child? Had Joanna behaved so foolishly, I would hope she dies so I can marry a better woman."

"What happens now?"

"Rhaegar will need a new wife," Tywin answered simply. Elia almost laughed. _It never ends, does it?_

"He has a wife already," Kevan reminded him. "There was no annulment. In the eyes of men, Elia Martell is his lawful wife."

"Perhaps but Rhaegar will discard her. He didn't go to so much trouble for no reason. She has thoroughly displeased him," Tywin said. "Her mother must have felt so clever, stealing that betrothal from under my nose, and look at how it has all turned to ashes." He had an ugly smile, Elia thought. Her mother thought she had done right by Elia, it was not her fault that Rhaegar turned out to be a terrible husband.

Kevan nodded. "Cersei," he said. "She is young and beautiful." He paused to look at his brother. "To think Jaime almost married her. He didn't look too happy at the prospect though I tried to tell him that she was at least pretty and she knew her courtesies."

"What boy would want a woman years older and with children of her own?" Tywin asked. The idea of bedding a green boy didn't excite Elia either. "I wouldn't have suggested it had I not been certain she would die within a year. The important thing was that we would have the little girl in our grasp. Rhaegar could turn as mad as his father. With his daughter, we could create a proper well-bred heir to replace him if we need to."

"With Cersei as Rhaegar's queen... what will you do with those children?"

Tywin finally looked at his brother. "I want them gone. They cannot threaten my grandchildren." Elia almost screamed. _It never ends._ "Though, I have not yet changed my mind about Jaime's marriage. The Martells are still a threat and we must ensure they will not harm our prospects. Jaime will bed that woman quickly, she'll carry a child, and she will die as she was always meant to. Her brother keeps having bastard girls, I'm told, so this woman might whelp a girl and allow Jaime to have a proper Lannister heir."

"Jaime's girl might look Dornish."

"Our blood is strong," Tywin said waving the thought away. "Perhaps if the child looks Dornish, it might soothe the vipers."

Kevan said, "What do you need me to do?"

"Send letters to Casterly Rock. Tell Cersei to come by sea. I'll speak to Rhaegar once he is done acting like a fool over that woman-"

"Wait until after the funeral, brother. He might take offence."

Tywin looked annoyed. "Fine. You should see the Martell woman. She will need a friendly face, you're better at that than I am. Make sure the Dornish aren't allowed into Maegor's Holdfast. Bring Jaime with you; tell him that he must charm her-"

"Seduce her?" Kevan looked ready to laugh. 

Tywin glared at his brother. "If he must. If he can convince her to write to her brother-"

"Or advice Rhaegar to marry Cersei-"

"Let's not go too far. No woman would invite such humiliation, not even a Dornish one," Tywin replied. "I would go myself but every time I see her, I see her thieving mother." His hands clenched. "Tell the Mountain and his men to leave the city quietly."

Kevan frowned. "Now? But-"

"It will be conspicuous if they left when Cersei's betrothal is announced. Tell them to take some ravens with them so we know where they will be waiting," Tywin said.

Elia opened her eyes. Her good mood was gone. There were so many enemies, all of them eager to kill little children. What sort of world was this? Though Elia was being hypocritical, she hurt a pregnant woman to kill her child. _I had to._ It was not as though Lyanna was some woman and Elia hurt her for the sake of it, her babies' lives were at stake.

"Your Grace, are you alright?" Sara asked. She was standing by the door and looking concerned

"I'm fine," Elia lied. She felt sick both in her heart and her body.

She looked away and closed her eyes again. She opened them in Rhaella's chambers. They were crawling with nurses and maesters. Elia spotted a few septons, who were holding prayer beads and seem to be standing in a prayer circle. None of them looked as though they had tussled with the guard. Elia wondered which one was Septon Raynard.

She kept going until she walked through the door to Rhaella's main chamber. The room was smoky with incense and it looked unbearably hot. Lyanna was lying on the bed. She looked small, waxen and weak. Rhaegar was sitting on the bed, holding her hand, and looking heartsick and dishevelled. Elia drank in the sight of his pale skin, red eyes, and the pure misery on his face. She sat on the bed too and listened as Lyanna struggled to breath. It might have been the poor lighting but Lyanna's belly looked smaller. Elia didn't know how long she was there, watching the two of them, and taking joy at their pain. Eventually Pycelle arrived.

"Your Grace," he said. "Have you made a choice?"

Rhaegar's voice was hoarse. "Between my wife and my child? What an easy choice," he said bitterly. Elia looked at Lyanna; she was half a corpse already. It wasn't really a choice.

"I apologise, Your Grace," Pycelle said, "but we do not have much time."

"I know. _I know._ I can't choose."

"Your Grace-" Pycelle began but he stopped. Lyanna was waking up.

"My love," Rhaegar said climbing on the bed. "Can you hear me?"

Lyanna opened her mouth. "Water," she breathed.

Pycelle gave her a small sip. It looked as though it was painful to swallow.

"She's speaking," Rhaegar said with hope. "That means...."

Pycelle glanced at Rhaegar. "It can mean some things but the choice remains."

"How could you say that?" Rhaegar shouted. Lyanna flinched a little. "Can't you see? She woke up."

"Your Grace," Pycelle said apologetically. He put the cup down. "Sometimes, before death, people can appear to grow stronger-"

"She is not dying," Rhaegar said firmly.

"Perhaps not but as long as the child remains in her womb, she cannot heal. She has lost too much blood and has to share the milk and honey we feed her with the child," Pycelle explained. "The child is likely starving and the sac that holds it has lost so much fluid. For both of their sake-"

"You said that childbirth could kill her," Rhaegar cut in, his voice was breaking.

"Doing nothing will kill them both," Pycelle replied. "It is difficult to hear but we do not have hours to spare."

"Rhae," Lyanna breathed. She was gaining awareness and there was some fear in her eyes when she looked at Rhaegar. "Ned."

Rhaegar smiled softly. "He'll come. Any moment now." To Pycelle, he said, "give me time."

Pycelle bowed and left the room. Elia remained. She had wished she could use her tendrils in this form but now it felt better to let things unfold. Whatever sympathy Elia would have felt for Rhaegar died in the Trident with her uncle. Just as Elia watched Lewyn perish, Rhaegar would watch Lyanna perish. A life for a life.

"Lyanna," Rhaegar said. He kissed her forehead.

Lyanna opened her eyes. "Dying," she said. Somehow saying it seemed to frighten her greatly.

Rhaegar said, "You'll heal soon enough and we will have many years together."

Lyanna looked scared. "Please," she whispered.

"Yes? Do you want something?"

"Home. Winter...." The rest of that word was lost.

Rhaegar kissed her hands. "I promise I'll take you there as soon as I can. You'll show me the godswood like you promised." He was crying.

Lyanna's eyes only held doubt. "Please," she said desperately. It took a lot of effort just to say that word. Elia ignored the stab of pity she felt.

"I'll take you there."

"You won't," Lyanna sobbed. It was small sobs, as though her body was incapable of doing more.

Rhaegar looked perplexed. "Of course I will, Lyanna. My love, trust me."

Lyanna shook her head. "My fault," she said her voice weakening. "Brandon, father. My fault." She was gasping for air by then.

"Lyanna? What's wrong? Lyanna! Help!" Rhaegar screamed.

The maesters rushed to her. Rhaegar was forced to move away. He looked confused and scared. "What is happening to her? It's as if she doesn't recognise me."

Pycelle pulled the covers off Lyanna. "Your Grace, what do we do?" There was blood on Lyanna's lips and sounded as though she was drowning. The choice was obvious to Elia. Yet Pycelle still asked.

Rhaegar was terrified and full of grief. "Wait-"

"We cannot, Your Grace."

Rhaegar screwed his eyes shut. "The child!" He shouted finally. 

Pycelle nodded at one of the maesters who handed him a sharp, thin knife. They pulled up the shift Lyanna was wearing. Lyanna's eyes were wide with terror and her hands were clawing weakly at her throat. Elia could have sworn Lyanna was looking directly at her. The knight sliced Lyanna's belly open. _She's still alive,_ Elia shouted but no one heard. She backed away from the bed. Rhaegar stood transfixed watching the whole thing. Pycelle started pulling out organs and laying them on the bed carelessly. Elia could not look away, in turns fascinated and nauseated. Then Pycelle pulled out a small child and handed him to one of the younger maester. Elia look at Lyanna's face and found that her eyes were glassy.

The child looked purple and his chest was very barely rising and falling. They carried him with urgency out of the room into another one leaving Rhaegar to stand there staying at the grotesque corpse. Finally, Pycelle brought down the drapes of the bed, hiding the body from view, and breaking whatever spell it had on Elia and Rhaegar. Almost as one, they both went to where the infant was. It's skin was not as blue as it had been as a nurse massages its back to encourage it to breathe. Elia was caught between wanting it to die and hoping it lived. It had been easy when the child was unseen in Lyanna's womb but now it looked... so small with translucent skin. The child let out a small cry so pathetic and heart wrenching that almost sent Elia running. She stayed and watched as it too started to struggle to breathe.

"What is wrong?" Rhaegar asked. He received no answer. Soon the child was hidden from view as it was surrounded by maesters and nursing.

"Breath," one of the men said in near tears. He looked to be about Elia's age. "Breath."

The longer it went on, the more frantic everyone became. Elia could barely see what they were doing and she hoped.... Rhaegar leaned on a wall as though he didn't have the strength to stand. Then it all stopped and slowly they all moved aside for Rhaegar to approach. Only he didn't seem to have the will to do anything except stare at the tiny corpse.

Elia opened her eyes. Sara was shaking her shoulders.

"Your Grace!"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Elia said pushing Sara's hands away and immediately regretting it. She wanted someone to hold her.

"You were crying," Sara pointed out.

Elia touched her face. It was wet. She very rarely had reactions when she uses her Sight. Usually, she would remain in the same state and if she was sick or very tired, she would slump over.

"I'm fine," she repeated.

"Where do you go when you close your eyes?" Sara asked.

Elia hugged herself. "Somewhere terrible."

It was dark and windy when Elia went to the balcony. The city's bells were ringing and though she wanted to escape the sound, she wanted to breathe too.

"I had to do it," she told the wind. She did. May the gods forgive her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know much about pregnancy and complications that can arise. I was supposed to do research and then I got lazy. I thought, 'fuck it if there are inconsistencies esp when it comes to treatment because it's not like pycelle is going to try and genuinely save lyanna and the kid.' I don't know if anyone or a fetus can survive losing blood and amniotic fluid for as long as Lyanna and the infant did (roughly a day) but I wrote it for dramatic reasons.
> 
> The reason I started out the chapter with Elia going 'it's what they deserve' and ending it with Elia feeling terrible is because I think the game of thrones sucks. Elia has no choice but to play but you have to be heartless to enjoy it and Elia isn't as heartless as she would like.
> 
> I didn't want Lyanna to die like that but I wanted Rhaegar to chose between her and the child and I couldn't think of a way to get the baby out. I mean they could pull it out without the c-section but that sounded more horrifying than what ended up happening.
> 
> Tell me what you guys think.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait. I was preparing for Elia Week.

Chapter 11

Elia tried to sleep and found that she could not. She curled up on one of the chairs and stared into nothing. Just before dawn, the city's bells started ringing. They rang hesitantly into the morning before stopping at noon. Elia couldn't stomach more than a single cup of tea. Rhaenys seemed to realise something was wrong because she dragged her blanket from her bed and brought it to Elia. 

"For me?" Elia draped it over her body. "Thank you, my love." Rhaenys ran off to play with her brother. Elia wished she could be as innocent as a child again.

Eventually Elia had to go to the privy and that was a task in itself. The noon meal was very unappetising but Elia forced it down. Then she spent the next hour trying not to vomit. In the afternoon she tried to sleep but every time she closed her eyes, she saw the wide eyed terror on Lyanna Stark's face before... before. Elia was no child; she had seen people die, held them as they grew cold, watched the light leave their eyes... but something about Stark's death got under her skin. _I killed her. And the little boy._ Killing seemed so easy when Elia was making her plans. She was going to use Varys' secret tunnels to find her way to Lyanna's chambers or perhaps Rhaegar's solar or the throne room. Then she'd kill them all and emerge victorious from her prison with her children. Now she only felt exhausted. It's only been a week or so and yet it felt like months. How much longer will this take?

Elia sat up. "Sara," she called out.

Sara came quietly; she did everything quietly, Elia thought. Despite being rather plump and sweet looking, sometimes Sara disappeared in the background.

"What have you seen in the castle?"

"I'm sorry, I hadn't gotten a good look, Your Grace, I only went to bring you food," Sara replied sounding a little anxious. "Truth be told, everything seems calmer now. In the Red Keep and the city.... Your Grace, I do not mean to speak out of turn- forgive me if I offend you- but you must be feeling relieved."

She was, despite everything that she had done and despite knowing Cersei Lannister will be on a ship soon, Elia was relieved. The noose around Elia's neck was loose now.

"I am," Elia answered. The walls no longer had ears with Varys gone but Sara could spread this. It would make a good tale, a Dornish serpent and a poor northern girl who only loved her prince. Elia couldn't find it in her to care. It's been so long since she's had a friend, since she could speak so openly. She had a taste of it when David came to see her. Elia had told him everything, what she could do, what she had done and what she planned to do. Once she was done, it was as though a huge weight had been lifted and now all Elia wanted to do was speak honestly but she had to restrain herself.

"It must have been difficult," Sara said. "At least you have your cousin to visit."

He left right before Lyanna arrived. Did they meet on the way? Did anyone see them? If people believed Lyanna threw herself out of... grief? Shame? Rhaegar would blame her and worse, he might blame David.

"Have I upset you?" Sara asked. 

"No, you haven't, I'm only sick of worrying and being afraid...." Elia closed her eyes. She knew she'd have to use her powers again but the thought of it made her sick. She laid back down and closed her eyes. "I'm going to sleep for a while."

She went to the royal apartments and saw that Rhaegar was nowhere to be found. The bodies had been taken to the Sept of Baelor and all the blood was gone. Elia went to the Tower of the Hand, the throne room. She Looked at Jon Arryn's chamber and found him reading a book by the window. All the grief that had been etched on his face seemed to have gone. Hoster Tully was with his soldiers and some of the petty lords from the Crownlands, the ones Rhaegar had dismissed from service.

"I assure you Her Grace is quite amicable and willing to look past any previous enmities," Hoster told them.

Mills, who was from a lesser branch of the Velaryon family, said, "The truth is, we had little choice but to please the king. He needed little justification to sentence someone to death. None of us enjoyed his court." _Liar,_ Elia thought. Mill's only task in the court was to goad and bolster Aerys' tantrums. He enjoyed the executions almost as much as Aerys did. Varys used to jest that Mill could find more traitors than he did. Yes, cooks and maids and guards who fell asleep during their shift.

Hoster smiled benignly at Mill. "No one understands that more than the queen. She too had to endure her good father. I will, as I promised, speak highly of your conduct since the king's passing."

Olyvar Rykker smiled with relief. "We are in your debt, my lord. Should you need anything, we will endeavour to help you." The others made the same oath. It pleased Hoster though he hid it immediately.

"My house joined with the rebels and I'm afraid it will be a long while before I am truly represented in King Rhaegar's court. I do not ask for much, my friends, only that you act as my ears in the court when it comes to the Riverlands," Hoster said. Then he shook his head and began lamenting, "So many of my good knights have fallen and their lands empty. Widows, boy lords, I'd imagine my good friends Eddard and Jon have the similar dilemmas."

Mill exchanged glances with Olyvar. They were both married but they had brothers and sons. "My lord, perhaps we could be of some help."

Elia left and found Tywin Lannister in his solar with his brother and generals.

"I told you," he was saying, "there will be no coronation until Cersei's betrothal."

"I understand," Kevan replied sounding just as annoyed, "but Rhaegar will not move from this. He seems to be... possessed with some sort of conviction that he must be crowned as soon as possible. Tywin, I have spoken to him at length before he went to the godswood to pray. The betrothal will have to come afterwards."

Possessed with some sort of conviction... Elia knew what looked like. The night of the comet, Rhaegar had burst into her room wielding a torch. Without explaining anything, he simply pulled her blanket away and took her. It was nothing like their previous lovemaking, Rhaegar didn't care to pleasure her and he didn't seem to enjoy himself. Afterwards, he opened one of the windows and showed her a comet.

"We have made a son together tonight," he had told her. His eyes were bright and yet it was though Elia was not there. Rhaegar slept in her bed and in the morning, he bathed with her. His eyes were normal again and he didn't mention the comet once.

Did Rhaegar have another dream or did he find something new in his scrolls?

Elliot Marbrand cleared his throat. "My lord, perhaps it would be best if things proceed as the King wills it. His kingship has been shaken severely by his father's suicide and the Stark girl's death. It would bolster Lady Cersei's position if she was betrothed to the king."

"Yes and it would be best to wait until Elia Martell has been wed to Jaime," Kevan said.

"Wedded and bedded," Elliot added.

Tywin pinched the bridge of his nose. "Any word of Stannis Baratheon?"

Wilson Hill, Tywin's long time steward, wordlessly handed over a scroll. Then as Tywin read, he said, "Mace Tyrell has ended the siege but Storm's End remains barracaded from the inside."

"Steffon would have had the sense to surrender," Tywin said, "but this boy of his, what does he gain from this act of defiance?"

"Pride," Kevan answered.

"Or perhaps he thinks that this is a trap set by the Tyrells," Elliot countered.

Wilson said, "His brother called himself king, perhaps he has the same delusion."

"We can't fight the Martells and the Baratheons at the same time," Kevan said.

"Won't be much of a fight. Baratheon forces are scattered and his allies are prisoners in King's Landing," Elliot replied. Elia had to agree. Her brothers wouldn't be looking to House Baratheon for an alliance. They have been battered and some of their lords were currently imprisoned in the dungeons.

"Except there's Eddard Stark, whose sister died in the worst way possible under the king's orders," Kevan retorted. "I don't like the idea of another war breaking out but we can't ignore the possibility. What's to stop the Martells from reaching out to Lord Stark and Lord Baratheon?"

"Lyanna Stark," Elliot answered. "The Martells wouldn't even send troops until Aerys threatened their princess. I doubt they will be willing to make alliances with House Stark." Oberyn wouldn't but Doran might, Elia thought. She could be wrong, she never really got the chance to see her brother act as Prince of Dorne but he was ever cautious and willing to do what it takes to protect the family and serve Dorne. The Starks can still fight, the Baratheons on the other hand...

"She's nothing more than corpse," Kevan said. 

Elliot shrugged. "I wouldn't put it past Dornishmen to ignore such an insult and I wouldn't put it past the Baratheon boy to imagine he is king but as long as Elia Martell's children live, the two cannot form an alliance."

Tywin put his scroll aside. "Have you spoken to Jaime?"

Kevan grimaced. "Of course I have. He is as displeased as I thought he would be though he is angrier at the thought of Cersei marrying Rhaegar. You would think he'd be happy for his sister, there's no honor greater than becoming queen."

"It's the separation," Wilson said nervously. "The two of them have lived together all their lives."

Tywin raised his eyebrow. "They haven't seen each other in years. Surely he must be used to it by now."

Wilson became even more nervous, Elia noticed. "He is afraid that Rhaegar would mistreat his sister. That is all, my lord." Why would he be so nervous, Elia wondered.

"Perhaps," Kevan said, "though he didn't mention that in his rants. I will take him to see Lady Martell in tomorrow. She might have enough charm in her to sway Jaime."

Elia left again and went to the godswoods. It was always an eerie place that made her feel unwelcome. When Aerys made her stand in for the Master of Coin, he gave her permission to visit the gardens occassionally. The godswood was always empty and though Elia felt uneasy, it was the only place where she could feel a little free. It wasn't empty now, the Kingsguards were present along with Rhaegar's closest companions, Richard Lonmouth and Myles Mooton. Rhaegar was kneeling and his head was bowed. When Elia got close, she saw that he looked older than his years. _Good._ This grief was nothing new to Elia and if she had to suffer, so should he.

Barristan Selmy moved to kneel with Rhaegar. "Your Grace, you should rest. It's been many hours."

Rhaegar shook his head. "Not yet."

"The gods must have heard all your prayers by now, Your Grace."

"I know they can hear me," Rhaegar replied in a weak voice. "I need them to speak to me."

"The Sept-"

"The new gods should attend to my wife and my son and..." Rhaegar paused. "Barristan, are you a religious man?"

"Knights serve gods as well as people," Barristan replied. "I have to admit I don't pray as often as I should, I don't read the holy scriptures as often as Ser Gerold does."

"What do you do when you fail? My father, he never stopped to care. I want to be like that but I don't how," Rhaegar said. He looked exhausted. "My faith has been shaken. I thought I was doing the right thing, I thought I was doing what was expected of me. Then Lyanna... she was supposed to give me a daughter. They weren't supposed to die. No one was supposed to die but they did." 

Barristan looked confused. "What was expected of you?"

Rhaegar turned to look at him. "When my grandfather and my grandmother visited a wood's witch, were you present?"

"No, Your Grace. This is the first I'm hearing of this," Barristan answered.

"The witch... she told them that someone special will be born in the line of King Aerys and Queen Rhaella," Rhaegar said. Around them, Elia could see the Kingsguards struggling to hear Rhaegar's words. "I thought that was me. I was born while Summerhall burnt-"

"Ser Duncan saved your mother. Was that significant?" Barristan ansked while glancing at Gerold Hightower.

"I thought it was. Then I saw the comet and I realised it was my son. We conceived a child the same night, Elia and I," Rhaegar said. "The prince that was promised."

"That boy is in Maegor's Holdfast," Gerold spoke. Rhaegar looked as though he was just realising that he wasn't alone.

"Why did you change your mind?" Myles asked. Elia wanted to know too. Rhaegar had seemed so sure, so sure that even after Varys spoke of Septon Raynard leaving King's Landing, Elia felt certain that nothing would happen to their children.

Rhaegar stood up. His knees cricked loudly and he swayed as though he was too weak to stand on his own. Barristan kept him steady.

"Do you believe in magic?" Rhaegar asked. There was a long pause in which everyone either looked at each other or they were thinking hard about what they were going to say.

"I believe in anything I can see," Myle replied carefully. "I've never seen magic before."

Lonmouth walked towards Rhaegar. "Magic exists, one only has to go east to see it."

Rhaegar nodded. "Asshai. The red priests, prophets of some pagan god. I was going to invite one, after the comet, to Dragonstone."

"Why, Your Grace?" Barristan asked. "Sorcerers are a plague, they can only bring you misfortune."

"I have dreams, ser, dreams of things that are yet to happen. I had one before Harrenhal, I had one last night. I know it sounds like madness-"

"-but it's true," Arthur finished for Rhaegar. "I can attest to that."

"I saw a girl with my coloring, flying on a dragon above Winterfell," Rhaegar said. "I dreamt of her so often that I knew her... my Visenya." He sounded so wistful. It made Elia sick. Their children were real and yet he loved this phantom more.

"Was she only flying?" Myle asked. "Perhaps she was only visiting."

"She lived there, I saw her with her cousins: a girl with the Tully look. I saw a boy, with the Stark look, bringing the Others down. They were working together, the three of them. I had been worried when Brandon Stark was killed. Then Eddard Stark married Lady Tully," Rhaegar said.

Myles did not look impressed. "I suppose the war had its use."

Rhaegar looked hurt. "Do you think I wanted that?"

"No, Rhaegar, I don't," Myles replied. "But why didn't you see it coming?"

"I didn't think my father would go so far."

"And your dreams? Why didn't they show you? Why didn't they warn you?"

"I don't know!" Rhaegar shouted. "I don't know."

Gerold got between them. "It doesn't matter, it's all in the past."

Rhaegar deflated. "It isn't. The worst is yet to come and there's nothing we can do to stop it from happening. Beyond the Wall lies an ancient enemy. I've seen him stir, I've seen him awaken the dead, I've seen him march them past the Wall... I've seen a hundred things and all of them have come to pass, Myles, all of them. I was supposed to save the world until I saw the comet, until I saw Visenya. Then I thought my children... the ones with Lyanna but.... Perhaps I was right all along and I am the Prince that was Promised. I don't know, I need guidance."

"And the girl you dream of?" Lonmouth asked. "What will you about her?"

"That all depends on Elia," Rhaegar answered. 

Elia opened her eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I had Rhaegar see visions of S8 essentially (but not the actual battle, if he saw the battle he wouldn't be so frightened lol) just so you guys can judge his interpretation. Dany won't exist in this AU though because Aerys didn't rape Rhaella- Rhaegar survived and Aerys sent Rhaella away ahead of time so once again Rhaegar has accidentally prevent the future that he saw (that of Dany and Jon fighting the dead in Winterfell).
> 
> The next chapter should come out tomorrow hopefully. It's an important one and the one after that we will finally get Jaime and Elia interacting.
> 
> Tell me what you guys think.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 12

She was weaker than before and not in a state fit to receive the King. It was growing increasingly difficult to recover after she used her powers. Spying using her powers was not sustainable. Elia wondered about Varys' little birds. How did he build a spy network? How did he make sure they were loyal? Elia used to trust her Dornish ladies. They had been her eyes during the month she spent in King's Landing after her wedding. Later, they acted as her ears in Harrenhal. The guards Varys left behind had so far managed to keep it to themselves that Elia had stepped out of the apartments right before Lyanna Stark fell down the steps, and they have been informing her of anything they hear from the other guards and any soldier they meet, but it's not as valuable as knowing what was happening in court. Any moment now someone could be making plans to kill her children and Elia would be none the wiser. She needed to find a better way.

Elia had a short moment to make a choice- did she want to present herself as as strong as her house words or did she want Rhaegar to see what his actions have done to her? Though she was eating better, she was gaunt, her hair felt brittle at times, and there were permanent eye bags under her eyes. Just the idea of making a choice exhausted Elia. She called to Sara to bring her water for bathing. If this conversation with Rhaegar was going to be as tiring as Watching him was, Elia wanted something to interrupt them, so she could breathe. She changed into a simple grey gown. Aegon was sleeping deeply while Rhaenys went in and out of sleep. Elia kissed them both before going to the balcony. Her 'friends' haven't left another note. Elia expected them to show themselves to try and gain some sort of reward for their... support but they haven't. She supposed her position in the court was not yet certain.

It was drizzling but the clouds above were sparse enough that Elia couldn't tell if it was going to rain truly. Three years she spent north of Dorne and she still didn't understand the weather very well. She hoped it wouldn't, she wanted to argue with Rhaegar away from his men and his Kingsguards and she did not want to fall sick. Sure enough when he came, he closed the door behind him and it was just the two of them. Elia didn't bother to look at him, instead she gazed at the black sea.

"Elia," Rhaegar said. It was said with uncertainty. To Elia it reminded her of when the tourney at Harrenhal ended. She wondered if she was going to relive that day for the rest of her life.

"Your Grace," she said.

Rhaegar came to stand beside her. He was so close that their shoulders were touching. "Aren't you worried about becoming sick?"

"No more than you are," Elia replied. Then, though it felt like she was pulling her own teeth, she said, "I'd like to offer my condolences." Elia could feel the tenseness leave Rhaegar's body.

"It's not easy burying your child. I don't know how my mother did it."

That was almost more than Elia could bare. "Did you come here to pretend Aegon and Rhaenys aren't your children? You found it easy to condemn them."

"Condemn them? Are they not currently in one of your chambers?"

"You looked me in the eye when you said you'll kill them as bastards."

"I was only trying to make you agree to an annulment."

"And if I had refused? You would have done nothing?" Elia asked. She couldn't stand the sight of him so she went back to looking at the sea. "Your father told me that we were being imprisoned at your request and that perhaps he should do you a favour and kill us." It was not entirely untrue. "My father told me that if a man promises me to hurt me, I should believe him. If I could I would have left for Sunspear and asked the High Septon for a divorce."

Rhaegar turned to look at her. "Is that what you want?"

"I want my children safe. I want my family. I want my uncle alive and the thousands of soldiers that you killed," Elia said. Rhaegar inhaled sharply as though he didn't expect her to say that last bit. Despite herself, Elia could not help but ask. "I don't understand what happened. I thought our marriage was going better than expected... I expected an affair at some point even though I had hoped that you wouldn't.... What sort of man are you? You would treat your own children so poorly, you would allow a war to start... what is wrong with you?" At some point, she turned back to look at him.

Rhaegar was the one to look away. "I didn't meant for any of this to happen."

"You must have and you did. You didn't want a war but you're courting one with my brothers. You killed my uncle as though he didn't serve your family faithfully-"

"I did not kill Lewyn-"

"You sent them into the rebel's swords. Varys told me. You knew my uncle when you were a boy, he was kind to your mother, kinder than the men you keep around you." Tears prickled Elia's eyes. "Did none of that mean anything?"

Rhaegar kept silent. "It meant something but there are things that matter more. I promise you none of this makes me happy but it either had to happen or it was out of my hands."

"No, it did not. You didn't need to marry a betrothed woman, you didn't need to go into hiding," Elia snapped. "All you needed to do was remove your father. That was why we went to Harrenhal." Speaking more to herself than him, "All those months of setting aside gold carefully so that your father's spy wouldn't know what we were doing... they were for nothing. What changed your mind? Why did you alienate so many people? I don't understand."

Rhaegar sighed and leaned on his rail. "I dreamt of my father's death," he answered. "I dreamt of Winterfell. Yesterday, I dreamt of my own coronation."

"Dreams?" Elia said slowly. "You destroyed my life because you had dreams."

Rhaegar was exasperated. "Not just any dreams, prophetic dreams. Dreams that come true."

"So what?"

Rhaegar was taken aback. "So what? I see the future, I have to act, Elia, it's my duty. What sort of man would I be if I ignored it all?"

"A better man than you are now," Elia answered. "What of your duty to me? To your children? To the Starks? To your poor mother? Remember, we were supposed to save her from that animal. Did you ever care? Did you not see what he was doing to her?"

"Of course I care!" Rhaegar shouted. He forced himself to calm down. "I saw him die so I let it happen, I didn't try to save him. My own father."

"Oh, I'm sure that was a real sacrifice," Elia hissed. "As though you weren't prepared to see your own children killed."

"I told you, I only meant to frighten you."

"If I refused, you expect me to believe you would have done nothing?" Elia asked. "You fool, you don't even know what you're done. I loved you. Rhaenys adored her, she was so happy every time you came to see her. People loved you, the lords and the smallfolk alike. You threw all of that away."

Her words struck a chord with Rhaegar. They made him scared first, then they made him angry. Angry enough that he grabbed her by her arms.

"I had to! If it was you, if you had my gift, you would do nothing and see us all dead."

"You're hurting me," Elia gasped. 

Rhaegar let go of her as though he had been burned. Then he cupped her face. "Elia, please listen. There's something stirring beyond the Wall."

"Something?" Elia asked. She was cold now, tired and sick of talking but she also had to know.

"The Others," Rhaegar said. "With white hair, blue eyes, and a cold that burns. They're marching slowly, killing a few wildlings to add to their army but their numbers grow. There's something controlling them, a being I can never see but I feel him when I dream, Elia, and he _hates_. If the Others grow strong enough to attack, they will wipe us out. I had to make sure it wouldn't happen. I had to become the prince that was promised. The scrolls I found, they contained ancient prophecies and they confirmed everything."

"And Lyanna?"

"I saw a Targaryen raised in Winterfell. Only one, though, I've never seen Aegon and Rhaenys," Rhaegar said as though he was only now realising it. "I've never seen them," he repeated.

Fear grabbed hold of Elia's heart. "What does that mean?"

"I don't know."

"The night of comet-"

"The bleeding star, the prince was supposed to be created under a bleeding star. The comet was red... I knew we had to conceive that night," Rhaegar said. "I didn't touch you again and when the maesters confirmed your pregnancy, I knew it was right. It took us a while longer to make Rhaenys."

"Not by much," Elia corrected.

"Not by much," Rhaegar agreed. "Perhaps I was wrong about that. Maybe I was right the first time, maybe I am the prince that was promised... but the girl. Elia, there was a girl in Winterfell with a black dragon. I haven't dreamt of her since I beat Robert but she has to be important. How else can dragons roam the earth again? I never saw them but I think there are more dragons. Perhaps for our children, perhaps for me and Viserys."

That wouldn't do. Elia has seen what happens when Rhaegar thought his children were unimportant. "Who else was in Winterfell?"

"Lord Stark's children," Rhaegar answered.

"Lord Stark has only just gotten married. It will be a long while before he has children. What age did they seem?"

"The same age we were when we married."

"In twenty years, you'd be an old man, as old as your father was. You might command armies but riding dragons...."

"Daemon Targaryen rode his into his fifties," Rhaegar said. Then he grinned. "I missed talking to you. You always had a way of looking at things. I love Lyanna but she was as bad as me."

Elia's anger simmered but she had to hide it. _Let him think he has a friend in me._ "Perhaps if you talked to me more, we wouldn't be here."

"You would have called me a madman," Rhaegar said.

Elia shook her head. "I loved you enough that I would have believed you."

Rhaegar looked surprised. "And now? Do you believe me?"

Of course Elia did. She could lift objects with her mind, cause unimaginable pain if she wanted to, she could See without physically moving. Her powers, Rhaegar's... were they the only ones in Westeros that had them? Were they meant to marry? Are her children meant inherit them? A part of Elia wanted that to happen, it would protect them greatly, but a bigger part wanted to spare them. Aegon and Rhaenys deserved better than to chase visions, they deserved better than the exhaustion Elia felt.

"It doesn't matter, you believe it and you'll act on your beliefs no matter what," Elia said. She ignored Rhaegar's disappointment. "The girl that you saw, you thought she was Lyanna's?"

"She lived in Winterfell. The Starks hate us, the only way they would accept us is if we had blood ties," Rhaegar replied.

"What if she's betrothed to one of Lord Stark's children?" Elia asked. "It's not uncommon for betrothed couples to live together. Perhaps they are already married. Perhaps, the war has started and Winterfell needs protecting."

Rhaegar looked gobsmacked. "I don't know. I felt strongly that... she couldn't have yours, I was told you would die, and without blood ties...."

Elia's anger flared again. "You dreamt of her in Harrenhal and you already knew the Stark's would hate you? Still you- it doesn't matter," she told herself before pressing the heel of her palms into her eyes. Elia had to persist, she can't allow him to discard Aegon again. "With Lyanna Stark dead, a betrothal makes sense-"

"Lord Stark wouldn't accept-"

"He can't refuse a king," Elia snapped. "Aegon is your heir and that girl is his sister. We have enough time to mend the rift between your two houses. Enough time to hatch dragons even."

Rhaegar nodded, fully convinced. "I came here for a reason. If you have another child, you will die. I've been told I haven't treated you well and you wanted me to talk to you more often." He paused. "I came to give you a choice. Either you bear me a daughter or you chose a woman, a highborn woman because Visenya cannot be of a lower status than her siblings, and you tell your brothers that it was your choice and you support me. I do not want another war."

"What a choice," Elia said bitterly. "Death or Daemon Blackfyre come again. With dragons this time."

"She won't harm Aegon and Rhaenys," Rhaegar assured her.

"You did not dream of them," Elia countered. That frightened Elia more than anything. If Rhaegar wasn't lying to her, then his visions were cast iron. If Aegon was meant to save humanity, why would Rhaegar never see him? "What else did you dream of?"

Rhaegar was happy to tell her. "A city in the east being sacked, a winter seemingly without end, your uncle with one of his bastards-"

"Uncle Lewyn?"

"Yes? He told me he had a paramour, they've been together for years. They must have a whole brood of children by now, like your brother. I saw the woman birthing one of them and giving the babe to your uncle and she told him he was a father once again," Rhaegar told her.

Elia's heart was racing. Her uncle never had children as far as she knew. He wanted to have them but he was worried the Mad King would harm them. Aerys had grown suspicious of her uncle and would often accuse him of planning treason. Lewyn had planned to wait until the old king's death. He didn't have children, yet Rhaegar saw.... Lewyn died. He would never hold his children and yet Rhaegar saw him doing so. _The future is set._ Evidently not.

"All your dreams come true?" She asked faintly.

"Yes."

"When did you see my uncle with his children?"

"I don't remember, a few years ago." Elia closed her eyes. "Elia."

"I will carry your child," she said. The plans she had been making would have to accommodate this new development. She opened her eyes. "First, I need to see my cousin and I need to write to my brothers."

Rhaegar nodded. "I will announce-"

"No, not yet," Elia said. She needed to speak with Jaime Lannister first. "I am ill and my babies, they're only used to small quarters. I need time to prepare.... We will not start trying for a children until after our coronation."

"You think I will cheat you out of-"

"Yes," Elia answered shortly. "I don't trust you. I will never trust you again. I want Oberyn in King's Landing. He'll look after my children after I'm...." Though Elia had no intention to carry the pregnancy to term, the idea was still upsetting. "I want my family here."

Rhaegar was upset and angry. "I do not want you dead."

"Liar. Hoster Tully told me Pycelle was supposed to examine me. You were going to let him impregnate me."

"I knew it was a possibility and I cannot tell a man what to do with his wife but I didn't want it."

It was raining proper now. "If you knew something would happen and you did nothing to stop it, you wanted it to happen. Isn't that your justification for everything?" Elia felt drained of all emotion. "I was cursed the day I married you."

Stung, Rhaegar pulled away. "The coronation is in a week. I'll come to you tomorrow."

"I told you, after we've been crowned."

"I told you I dreamt of my own coronation. I didn't tell you that you were there wearing my mother's crown," Rhaegar said.

Elia's mouth fell open. "You said-"

"I didn't want you to feel as though I never gave you a choice. You chose to give birth to my daughter. You cannot hold that against me."

Elia looked away in disgust. "You can wait a week."

"I don't see the need. Besides, I plan on going to Storm's End to deal with Stannis Baratheon."

Elia opened her mouth to argue but she closed it. If Rhaegar came to her bed, it would do a lot more to strengthen her position and she needed all the help that she could get but the idea repulsed her, she didn't want him touching her. _Kill him now._ Nothing would please her more but the court would blame her. She needed to be careful. So Elia nodded.

Rhaegar cupped her face again and he kissed her forehead. He left without thankfully saying anything else. Elia remained in the light rain for a while before going inside. She heard noises coming from the drawing room. Assuming it was her children or Sara with the hot water Elia sent her to get, Elia headed there. She found three dirty little children instead, covered in soot and ash from the heath.

"Who are you? Why are you here?" Her voice quivered with surprise and fear. How did they know about the trap door?

The children looked at her eerily. They all held up pieces of paper.

"I said who are you?"

The smallest one, a young girl the same age as Viserys, opened her mouth. To Elia's horror, she saw that the child had no tongue. With hesitation, she reached out for one of the pieces of paper.

_'richar lomouth visited lady from the river lands.'_

The writing was childish but the information....

"You're Varys' little birds," Elia said. Varys was dead. Did these children think she was their new master?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the slow updates. I was unsure with how to proceed with the story. In the first half (up to Lyanna's death), I knew everything that would happen. I could see it clearly in my head and I wanted to get it out as quickly as I could. The second half was less clear. I only had the broad strokes and a few scenes. It doesn't help that the setting will change and the number of prominent characters will end up increasing. I was unsure if I could do this part any justice but I sat down today and I thought about it carefully. I identified the parts that I found difficult and I made an outline. Once the outline was done, this chapter was written in 3 hours. Hopefully updates will be frequent.
> 
> Essentially Rhaegar saw Daenerys in Winterfell seemingly comfortable in the castle, there's only one Stark girl that Rhaegar knew of, Rhaegar gave Lyanna the crown of winter flowers, he saw how angry that made people and he figured eventually they'll forgive him when Lyanna gives him children- the Starks would become his relatives and everyone will be cool with one another but if they're not, who care because dragons, 'oh my God dragons.' Honestly, the dude saw dragons and just lost his mind. He became one track minded about that one aspect. This is why he was conflicted. On one hand he wants to be tptwp but on the other hand he wants dragons and so far the dragons are only associated with the girl he saw. He also doesn't want everything he did to be in vain (if he is tptwp, then he didn't need to have kids or pursue Lyanna, those decisions can only be 'justified' if the last hero is one of his kids) which is why he gravitated to the latter. I believe that unlike the past, the future can be altered so I gave Rhaegar visions that came true and visions that would have come true had he not lived.
> 
> Rhaegar never told Elia his plans except the Harrenhal one because he needed her help since she's the one in charge of their finances. He used to discuss politics and the day to day running of Dragonstone with her because Elia was supportive and logical. Because of his over reliance on dreams and prophecies, Rhaegar's decision making skills are not good. He often needs someone to talk him into something so he is either overly firm (esp if its related to his dreams) or wishy washy and it's hard for the characters and me to keep track sometimes.
> 
> Tell me what you guys think of this chapter.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 13

The children looked relatively well fed though their lips were quite dry and they looked rather hungry.

"Do you have parents?" Elia asked. All three shook their heads. 

"Did Varys take care of you?" They nodded. 

"Did he take your tongues?" They nodded again. 

"Do you hate him for it?" The children glanced at each other but they didn't give an answer. 

"Do you know that he died?" They nodded. The little girl pointed at Elia and then her eyes. "You saw me?" That frightened Elia greatly. Should word get out... she would be branded a witch. "Who have you told?" The girl pointed at the two boys. "Are there more of you?" All three nodded. "Do they all know?" They shook their heads. That was when Elia took a good look at them and saw that they shared features and they had the exact same eyes. The children were siblings, all recruited by Varys. They must have grown hungry, enough to seek her out despite her powers. Something about that saddened Elia. "Sit," she told them.

She found Sara sleeping in the bed with Elia's children. At the foot of the bed was the tub. In the light of the setting sun peaking out from behind the curtains, Elia could see that the water was both cold and used. She quietly woke Sara up.

"I want to eat supper alone in the drawing room. Bring me as much food as you can carry, soft food if you will. Don't let the children bother me and make sure to warn me before you enter."

The instructions confused Sara but she agreed. Elia went back to the drawing room and as soon as she entered, the children scrambled to their feet. One of the boys swayed a bit as though he was lightheaded.

"You don't have to stand. Sit. Here have some water." While they drank, Elia tried to formulate a plan of how to approach this new complication but she was feeling a little out of depth. "How many of you are there?" 

The oldest boy held up both his palms twice. "Twenty? In King's Landing? What about the rest of Westeros?" The children shrugged. "Do you know how Varys contacted his spies?" The other boy imitated a bird. "Ravens? Surely people would notice ravens flying to and from the city? Not ravens? What other birds?" The children started cooing like pigeons do. Elia leaned back in her chair amazed. Varys trained pigeons. Could they fly as well and as true as ravens? They had to, otherwise how would he know so much. Elia was beginning to truly regret killing him, he would have been a useful ally had he not grown fixated on her children.

"If I get into contact with them, will they answer to me?" She asked.

The children took their time answering this, looking at each other. They must have grown good at communicating without talking or using gestures. Elia did notice that their hands would jerk up sometimes as though they were going to gesture but they would tamper down the urge. Perhaps they used signs and they didn't want her to know. Eventually, all three nodded.

Elia could not feel excited with that answer. These were children, what sort of woman used children in this manner? Elia knew lowborn children grew faster than highborn children, already these three had eyes that have seen too much, but there something rotten about the idea. She didn't know how to articulate what she was feeling but Varys has already robbed these children of their ability to talk and they spent their days in the dark, away from the rest of humanity. Can she benefit from his spy network without becoming complicit in his actions? 

"Do you have a family?" She asked again. As expected they did not. "Can you work with your hands?" Puzzled, two of the children glanced at their hands while the oldest one nodded. Elia should send them to the port to work as porters but they cannot speak and their employers cannot read. Perhaps they can go to one of the orphanages but what will happen once they reach the age of majority? Will Elia remember them then? What sort of work can mutes do in Westeros? These children could easily be mistreated; Elia had to be careful about the way she handled them... though the smallfolk were nearly always ill treated. Knowing what was already done to them made that idea difficult to accept.

Sara brought the food and a few lit candles. Carrying the tray was difficult, it was packed with almost too much food. Elia had to rely on her powers to make sure the tray didn't fall. She sat the tray down and told the children to eat. They hesitated but their hunger won in the end. Eating without a tongue looked difficult so Elia waited before asking more questions. In the meanwhile, she thought.

Varys had to have at least a few spies in every castle in the land. No, that would be excessive and not even castle had hollow walls. It was possible that he recruited adults and only used children when he needed to. She would have to ask about that though she doubted it; orphaned children can be controlled, grown men on the other hand would trust their own ability to survive on their own. So children, young enough to fit into small spaces, old enough to write and stay still for a long time. How did Varys keep them loyal? He was clearly feeding them but he remained in King's Landing. Pigeons can carry notes but not meals. Still he found a way. It might not be difficult for Elia to take his place, she thought before immediately chastising herself.

Once the children started slowing down, Elia started asking them questions again.

"Was Varys good to you?" She asked. It seemed he was. "But he took your tongue, you were frightened of him." They didn't admit to it but Elia could see it in their eyes. "Are you worried I will do the same?" They shook their heads after a moment of hesitation. "Have you been watching me?" They saw her kill Lyanna Stark. It really must be desperation that brought them here, and that could only last for so long, love on other hand.... Elia smiled pleasantly at them. "Do you have names? Can you write them down? I'd like to know you better." 

They turned their pieces of paper over and the oldest boy retrieved an inkwell and quill Elia never noticed. She realised they didn't bring the papers with them. They tore them out of a parchment and wrote it all down while they waited for her. Elia took note of that.

"Beth. John. Grenn," she read out loud. "These are good names." Beth smiled reluctantly. "You can continue eating. How did Varys feed you?" John retrieved more paper to write his answer. "In the caverns below? Did you eat with the other children?"

_'No separate.'_

That made sense. It made sure they would only rely on him alone. In fact, Elia was surprised Varys took in siblings but his gamble paid off.

"And the... little birds in the other castles. How do they eat?" She asked. John wrote feverishly. His answer was difficult to understand but essentially Varys' friends fed them. Varys' friends... that somehow simplified things and made them more complicated. They were the ones Elia needed to contact then but how will she convince them to help her? She asked the children. Gold was the answer. It seemed a little ridiculous, if they took gold from Varys, they could take it from anyone else. 

"Gold only?" Elia asked. John chewed on the quill before writing down. Varys' friends were from Essos. What city state did Varys say he came from? It has to be Pentos. Elia's heart sunk. There was no way she could convince them to work with her if they had such long ties with Varys.... Work with her? Was she really going to use these children? Elia pinched the bridge of her nose. She wanted Doran beside so he could tell her what to do.

"These people, do you... think they will look for Varys?"

John shrugged while Beth shook her head. On the paper she wrote, _'no tongue,'_ Elia read it half a dozen times but she could not get her hopes up yet.

"So they're like you but older?" Beth nodded. "When you said they're Varys' friends, did you mean close friends?" Elia could immediately tell it was stupid question. What would these children know about true friendship? "Is the friendship similar to that of you and the other little birds? You know them and you work for Varys but you keep to yourself. Is it similar to that?" When all three nodded, Elia almost slumped from relief.

"Thank you," she said to them and it looked as though no one had ever thanked them before. They did not know how to react. "I am grateful for your help and I would like to request one more thing before you leave. Can you bring the other birds here? I want to speak to them."

The rest of the spies came one by one, climbing out of the hearth quietly. All twenty of them. They were young, jaded and hungry. Elia could only offer them the rest of the food and some water. They didn't try to communicate with one another, they did not seek comfort in one another. Elia doubted they ever gathered together like this before. The right thing to do would be promise these children that their hardships were at an end but Elia couldn't, she didn't want to. She needed spies to uncover plots for her. Otherwise she would use her powers until they killed her. Aegon and Rhaenys needed her. Afterwards, when Elia was finally safe, she swore to send them away from the Red Keep to a good place.

"Lord Varys has left you all in my care," she told them. Speaking softly as to not wake her family. "I know it's sudden but he knew you would be in good hands. I will bring you food and clothing and one day I'll give you a nice house for all of you to live in. Would you like that?" Most of the children nodded enthusiastically while the older ones looked at her with suspicion. "I swear an oath on the old gods and the new. I want to be your friend and I want to make sure that you are all happy." She paused before putting a single parchment paper in front. "I'd like to know your names and your ages. Once you've eaten your meals tomorrow, you'll tell me everything you heard. I will be very grateful."

The little spies wrote their names down. Elia made sure to praise them and their penmanship. She even made a few of them blush. Elia quietly brought another jug of water for them, already thinking of ways to take food from the kitchens. There were so many of them that Elia had trouble matching the names to each child but she had to learn. She needed to prove that she was different from Varys. _Was I?_ A slap that was kindly meant would still sting. Discomfort settled heavily on Elia's heavy stomach but she pushed past it. She brushed hair from the face of one of the children, thanked John for bring them to her, and then she sent them off, telling them to be careful as they climbed down. It was a long way down, she knew.

Afterwards, Elia slept and dreamt of chains and Varys' rotting face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the shortest chapter so far but it's an important one or it's important to me. I needed to work out the logistics of Varys' spy network and I needed to explore the morality of using children. This Elia is a dark Elia, she's been corned and is determined to do whatever it takes to protect her babies but she's still a good person which is why her actions make her unhappy. She essentially goes from 'I can't to,' to figuring out Varys' network before finally admitting that she'll utilise his spies. 
> 
> Anyway tell me what you think.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long break. I started a new fic for Elia Week about her family and love interests and it's longer than expected and I haven't even gotten to Rhaegar. So the updates for this fic might be slow for a while.
> 
> The last chapter was heavy and was part of the reason I wanted to tag this fic with 'Dark Elia Martell.' Out of every interpretation of Elia, a dark Elia is rare. That makes sense since Elia is a good person in canon but I wanted to make her morally ambiguous, not out of personal ambition, but a desperate need to protect her children in a city with a hundred ongoing conspiracies.

Chapter 14

It was difficult to regret her choice when Elia woke up the next day to find a dozen small notes left for her to read. 

'tywin went to a brothel twice chattaya'

A brothel? Tywin Lannister famously refused to touch another woman after his wife's death. His own father had a mistress after he was widowed and Tywin paraded the woman around Lannisport. Yet he went to a brothel. Elia looked at the last word, it sounded like a name, a Summer Islander name. Elia's grasp of her father's language was not as strong as it should be but she knew the name. Was Chattaya the whore Tywin visited? Elia could feel a small smile forming. There was no way she would have ever find out about this, even with her power, unless Tywin disclosed this and she happened to hear.

'richard lonmoth mary bracken'

Elia's stroke of good luck continued. Lonmouth was a landed knight. Aerys had knighted him and awarded him lands bordering the Blackwood holdings. Lonmouth had fought and killed the Kingswood outlaws and even accompanied the king back to King's Landing after Aerys' rescue from Duskendale. Elia had been careful around him, suspecting him to be one of Aerys' plants but Rhaegar had laughed off her anxiety.

"He has Varys, why would he need Richard?" 

Elia had felt ridiculous but she also felt sure. "To influence you."

Rhaegar had brushed her hair back. "I find that difficult to believe. Richard has done little but support me. If my father had his way, I would either be the supremely obedient child he always dreamt of or I'd be rotting in a cell."

When the plans for Harrenhal were made, the conspirators had all been careful. Elia's task had been bringing together the funds necessary for a tourney of such a scale and then Rhaegar would transfer it to an Iron Bank account held by Lord Whent. They had been so careful, they didn't even speak of their plans. Instead they had written them down and burnt the evidence. Yet Aerys came to the tourney anyway. Rhaegar had given up on using the tourney to turn the lords against his father; Elia kept hoping so she held sewing sessions and even took on a few more ladies from different regions as her ladies in waiting. Then Rhaegar did the unthinkable. Elia never got the chance to tell him this but she always suspected Lonmouth. After the hellish year Elia had just suffered, she would be willing to forgive and not forget but Lonmouth advocated for her death and now Elia had a weapon she could use against him.

'miles bothel'

'many have gone to visit the dornish since the northerner's death,'

The rest of the notes mention new arrivals into the city (a minor lord from the Fingers, a merchant from Lannisport, a Dornish knight in disguise). None of that trully mattered to her in that moment. Elia did not want to notice this but some of the children were obviously too young to have proper grammar; their notes had information but they were a little difficult to understand. She agonised over her choice again. In that moment ,she felt as tired as usual but the pain had lessened and the exhaustion did not feel as heavy as it usually did after she used her Sight. The longer she went without heavily using her powers, the faster her recovery. Was her health that important? Yes, Elia told herself after a long moment. She was the mother to a future king and Rhaegar could not be relied upon. If his visions of the dead rising were true, then Westeros needed a good and strong king. Elia's actions were necessary. They had to be.

To make herself feel better, she sent one of her guards to the kitchen for as much food as they let him carry. She instructed him to lie about who it belonged to. Afterwards, he was to take the food into the cavern where the dragons rested. Then when he returned, Elia sent the other guard. It was risky despite the fact that it was early in the morning. People might know she only had two guards standing outside of her door for most of the day and they might wonder but the children were starving. They needed to eat.

Then she bathed, dressed herself in a simple gown with no embroidery that made her look smaller, and she tied her hair back into a simple braid. When Elia caught her own reflection, she thought she looked particularly frail. Good, Kevan Lannister will think it too. As for Jaime Lannister, Elia barely had a relationship with him. Aerys kept him very close and he imprisoned Elia too often. Even when Jaime was assigned to guard her little family, it was difficult to form a relationship with him knowing that Varys' eyes were on them. Still Elia strived to be polite and she brought up their mothers' friendship more than once. She also found ways to make the young knight to carry and dote on her little children. These occurrences were far and few between which was why Elia felt surprised to see Jaime speak rudely towards Lyanna Stark. Perhaps there was something there Elia could build upon but she watched him kill Aerys. No one hated the Mad King more than she did- except Rhaella- and while Elia was glad to see him die, oathbreaking was a serious transgression. If that was a line Jaime could cross without any sign of guilt... Elia could never fully trust him. For all she knew, he was part of his father's plan to butcher her little ones.

Kevan and his nephew arrived after Elia had finished getting ready. Elia stood up with a look of mild surprise.

"My lords, to what do I owe this honor?" She said while ushering them in.

Kevan bowed to her before taking a seat. "Princess Elia, we have been meaning to visit and acquire about your health for quite some time now but the circumstances have made that difficult."

"Yes," Elia said with just a little bit of sadness. Too much of it and she would seem a liar. "I prayed for the babe. I don't remember what I was asking but... I had to."

Kevan smiled warmly. "What a good heart you have," he said pointedly towards Jaime.

Elia allowed her discomfort to shine through long enough for both men to pick up on it. Then she looked at Jaime. "I heard that you have been released from your vows. You must be relieved."

"Relieved?" Jaime asked. "Some of the men call me a coward behind my back. They say I failed my king and I paid my way out with Lannister gold." He sounded so bitter that it surprised Elia. Did he want to be a Kingsguard? Even after all of that? 

"I don't mean to speak ill of the dead, ser, but King Aerys was not always kind to you. I had thought the Kingsguard had become tainted in your eyes."

Jaime glanced at his uncle. "I thought King Rhaegar would do better. I wanted to serve under him."

"He would," Elia agreed sadly.

"It isn't a compliment, my lady. It used to be, but now I look at the king differently." 

Kevan cleared his throat. "The past is the past," he said.

"Yes it is," Elia replied. "I suppose the prospect of finding a new bride excites you." It was clunky but everyone knew Kingsguard were not allowed to have children.

Kevan sat up straight. "That is precisely why we came here."

"You want me to suggest someone?" She asked. She maintained eye contact though she wanted to look away. Lying came easily to Elia these days but sometimes she was worried that someone would see right through her.

"No, my lady, we came here for you," Kevan answered. He faced his nephew and seemed to wait for him to say something.

Jaime looked at him quizzically for a long moment before jerking up a little as though he remembered something. "Yes, yes... I came here to ask you to be my bride. My father believes that a union between our two families will bring peace to the realm."

"My lady, years ago, you came to Casterly Rock to negotiate a betrothal between you and Jaime."

"Yes, I remember," Elia said keeping her anger out of her voice. "Lord Tywin told me he found me unsatisfactory and offered his infant son instead."

"My brother made a mistake. Even he will admit to it," Kevan replied. "Cersei was meant for Rhaegar. She would have been a good wife to him but Jaime was unattached and this, I believe, made it easier for King Aerys to induct him into the Kingsguard. Had he been betrothed to you, the king's plans would have been thwarted." Elia looked at Jaime and he was listening to his uncle intently. "This is a chance for us to correct that mistake."

Elia pretended to absorb what he had said before speaking. "Ser, I am a mother of two children and my marriage to Rhaegar not been dissolved. I cannot have two husbands."

"It will take a while but a _divorce_ can be arranged," Kevan said.

"And my children? What of their safety?" Elia asked. _What of their rights,_ she wanted to ask but that would make Kevan too wary. "Will I have to leave them behind?"

"I'm afraid so," Kevan said. "I am a father and I know what pain this will cause you but His Grace is determined to set you aside." Jaime looked at his uncle as though he wanted to say, _He is?_ "No maiden in the Seven Kingsdoms is fairer than Cersei. Once my brother brings up the idea to King Rhaegar, a betrothal shall be set soon after."

Elia looked away as though she was overwhelmed. "I want to go home."

Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see Kevan nudging Jaime. "Once we are married," Jaime told her, "we will go to Sunspear to speak with your brothers."

"You will tell them you entered the marriage willingly and ask them to withdraw troops from the Prince's Pass."

Elia widened her eyes a little. "Troops?"

"Yes, at least fifteen thousand we're told with more amassing in the other parts of Dorne," Kevan said gravely.

Elia almost laughed. How did Doran and Oberyn make their army look larger? Without a spy, their enemies knew little of what was happening in Dorne.

"I haven't agreed. I don't want to leave my children in King's Landing," Elia said. "It's a cesspool."

"It's no place for children," Kevan agreed. He looked at Jaime meaningfully. 

But before Jaime could say another one of his rehearsed lines, Elia grabbed Kevan's hand. "Ser Kevan, you are a knight. Your duty is to help women and children." She stood to take Jaime's hand. "Tell him. Tell him what my children have endured. They haven't left the Red Keep in months. Aegon is frightened of people and Rhaenys... Aerys would threaten her, he would scream at her, his own granddaughter...." Tears fell so easily after that. "None of you did anything to stop him," she told Jaime letting some of her anger come out.

"We were ordered not to," Jaime replied in a smaller voice.

"You're not a Kingsguard anymore. You can protect them."

Kevan stood up and helped her back to her chair. "Your words have moved us," he said. "Lord Tywin shall petition the king to allow you to take your daughter with you to Casterly Rock."

"She won't want for anything," Jaime promised. The two of them sounded so genuine that had it not been for her powers, Elia would have believed them.

She wiped her face. "And my boy? He is not yet two."

"My dear lady, Aegon is the heir. He must remain in King's Landing. Cersei is a sweet and maternal girl, she shall love him as though he was her own child," Kevan said. 

Elia snivelled. "I don't remember Casterly Rock but I do remember her. She was kind and welcoming," she lied. "But he is my son."

"Come on now," Kevan chided. "You are a woman grown. You know a divorced woman cannot take her children with her. Separating the siblings is harsh enough, do not make things harder for the boy. King Rhaegar has made up his mind. Your marriage is beyond repair, my lady. You must now act in your children's interests.... Cersei will become your sister, I will be your good uncle and Tywin Lannister will be a far kinder good father than Aerys ever was. You shall gain a family and the might of Casterly Rock behind you. You will protect little Aegon from afar."

Elia nodded. "I... ser Jaime will want children."

Kevan looked behind at his nephew. "Not immediately."

With some reluctance, Jaime nodded. "I am quite young. We can wait a year or more."

"House Lannister employs the best maesters. You will have a safe delivery when the time comes. Princess Rhaenys shall have a sibling again and a war will be averted. There will be songs written of your sacrifice." Elia smiled at him before nodding. Kevan, delighted by her choice, kissed her wet cheeks. Jaime came forward and kissed the back of her hand and then her forehead.

"Do not worry about the dowry," Kevan told her. "We shall make the announcement and as soon as the High Septon announces your divorce, you shall have a small ceremony in the sept."

"There won't be a trial?"

"There will be no need. No one shall dispute it, I assure you."

"The High Septon was appointed when my father was Aerys' Hand," Jaime told her. "It will take very little to convince him." Jaime sounded unhappy about that, he didn't even realise that his uncle was glaring at him. Elia pretended not to see. Instead she curtsied. 

When they left, she stood alone for a while. It was difficult to know what she felt. If Jaime didn't want her, she wanted him even less. He was only a boy of eighteen and his family was plotting against hers but it was important that she appeared pliable. After Rhaegar, Tywin Lannister was the most powerful man. Even now his soldiers prawled the city. It was difficult to accurate predict what his reaction will be when he hear Rhaegar's announcement that he will not set her aside, but Elia was starting to understand the Lannisters. Somehow Tywin managed to cow the High Septon into defying Rhaegar. Something told Elia that had she not killed Lyanna Stark, the girl would have ended up dead anyway. Tywin wanted his daughter to be queen at all cost which meant that Tywin will continue doing what he can to make it happen. Good, as long as Tywin pursued a greater influence on the royal family, Elia's plans can proceed smoothly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The plot thickens as ever. Jaime wants to get married as much as he did in canon which is to say, not at all (unless he is marrying Cersei). Kevan is a good liar but too bad Elia can astral project. I love Cersei and even I chuckled at the idea of her being a good step mother. When Elia and Oberyn arrived, she took them to Tyrion so they can watch her bully a newborn baby. Jaime probably remembers that but Elia's performance as a desperate mother is convincing enough that he doesn't feel the need to do any damage control.
> 
> Elia doesn't care about the act of killing Aerys but oaths are a big deal in their society which is why Rhaegar faced stiff resistance to his plans to annul a legitimate marriage. Given Jaime's part in Tywin's plan, she would always be suspicious of him. She both does and does not hold Jaime's actions against him. Poor Jaime, he gets away with the crime but he still gets a reputation of oathbreaking because Kingsguards are supposed to serve for life and also you know he killed the king. I have to admit I do like fics where he is freed of his oaths but I always thought there would be a backlash. Barristan was forced out so no one really blamed him but Jaime would get dragged even though it's his dad's wish.
> 
> Tell me what you guys think.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is yet another dark chapter. Take care of yourselves.
> 
> Trigger warnings: Sexual assault.

Chapter 15

When it was past noon, three of the children (Maeve, Jeyne and Tom, Elia reminded herself) came to give her little notes about women hostages Elia knew little about. It seemed four of the hostages, related by blood, were plotting to get into Rhaegar's bed regardless of whether or not he was interested in finding a new queen. They could then ensure their families would not be punished severely for fighting with the rebels. Rhaegar hadn't yet dealt with the prisoners, for all everyone knew, he could decide on executions. Two other hostages were more interested in ingratiating themselves to Elia, Mary Bracken and Joanne Connington.

"How did Joanne get captured? Griffin's Roost is well away from any battlefield and the Conningtons fought for us," She asked the children. While Maeve wrote the answer to that question, Elia thought about a new dilemma. Sending the guards to feed the children was not sustainable, she needed to find another way to do that. To the other two, she asked, "Did Varys employ anyone in the kitchens?"

Tom shrugged while Jeyne, who was in such a rush to answer that she snatched the quill from Maeve, wrote, 'Selne cook, Martin cook...' on and on the names went. Until there were seven names.

"How come none of them continued feeding you?" Elia asked. She got her answer soon enough. Varys instructed them to deliver food only if they received instructions from him, which meant that each day they had to wait for him before they could hide any food for the children. If any of the children displeased him, they might find their food restricted. The cooks and the kitchen maids were being paid and protected by Varys, as long as they performed their work to his satisfaction, nothing would happen. There used to be more of them but when Varys disappeared, two of them left the city.

Maeva handed Elia a note on Joanne Connington. Elia read it over before setting every note on fire. She now had to find Varys' moles in the kitchen and in every part of the castle to ensure they answered to her. She also needed to deal with Rhaegar. He was going to come in a few hours to bed her and that was something Elia had little interest in. So she tore a large piece of paper and gave it to Maeve as she seemed the most perceptive. On the paper was instructions to name everyone working for Varys.

"Pass this on to the other children if you must. Wait," Elia handed the girl more paper, ink and quills, "and their positions and how long Varys has been using them. Afterwards we will discuss them in greater detail."

To other children, she wrote them notes to take to the kitchens. For a brief period of time, Aerys had her acting as steward after he executed his third steward. Finding a new one was a little difficult as many of his sycophants were too incompetent to take the position. This means that at least most of the servants knew her handwriting. Her words might not convince them to meet with her but her handwriting will. 

Once the children were gone, Elia went to freshen up, she had a long day ahead of her. She wore a simple grey gown and sandals. After instructing Sara to once again stay in one of the bed chambers with the children until Elia came to get them, Elia waited near the empty hearth. Eventually, Jeyne returned.

"I need you to take me somewhere," Elia told the girl. 

Jeyne nodded eagerly and began climbing down the ladder quickly. Elia had to watch her just to make sure she wouldn't fall. Jeyne walked quickly and confidently despite the darkness. Elia knew the path they were taking and she soon realised why. The scent of a rotting corpse was rather light but it was still there. Elia will have to take care of that too. Jeyne walked confidently without really noticing that Elia could not quite keep up. They reached the chamber with the many doors and Elia had barely any time to notice that the stones she left behind in front of each door have been removed before she walked through one of the doors. After that, they went up dizzying staircases and narrow corridors before they reached a point where Elia and Jeyne had to crawl through tunnels. Elia was thin enough to squeeze through them but the walls scrapped against her skin and soon she had to stop just to rest a little.

"Wait," she called out to Jeyne.

Jeyne looked behind and said, "Shh."

Now that they weren't moving, Elia could hear voices from above, below and to her right only. The left side of the tunnel was rather quiet, though she could hear wind whistling if she strained her ears. She and Jeyne were on the move again. The tunnel ended on a similarly difficult to climb staircase before they were on a platform that had four different opening. Only one of the openings went upwards. Elia realised the other three went under the royal apartments and that one went into the wall. She braced herself and went up. This tunnel opened up allowing Elia to stand though it was incredibly difficult to manoeuvre her way from her knees to her feet with so little room. Jeyne dutifully helped her up and the two of the inched sideways. There was very thin slits carved into the wall. So ridiculously thin that Elia could see nothing but bits of colour and light. She wondered what their purpose even was, the only thing you could tell is if someone was standing close to you- oh.

The two of them walked the entire length of the apartments until they came to the King's bedchamber. There they came across a little boy who had been standing in front of a tiny slit. Elia was uncomfortable doing anything with the two of them watching but she had little choice. She closed her eyes and appeared inside Rhaegar's bed chamber. Rhaegar was sitting in a tub with steaming hot water. On his bed was several items of clothing. It was clear he was getting ready to come to her. Elia could unleash her powers on him but his screams might alert the Kingsguard, who'll come charging in and who knows what they will see. Elia could not use her powers unless she was inside of her body and she was going to rely on her memory and therefore she could make a mistake terrible enough to ruin her. She needed Rhaegar to crown her as queen in front of all men for her children's sake; she cannot allow people to go hunting for a witch when everyone knew she has a strong reason to hate both Rhaegar and Lyanna. Her current task was to make sure he never set foot in her apartments until the coronation. So the problem of Rhaegar alerting his guards remained. Elia walked around the tub memorising its position relative to the wall and then she returned to her body.

She pushed the children away. Then she formed one tendril, then another, then six more and she sent them through the wall. She could feel them as they slid across the floor until they reached where she estimated the tub was. Then they struck out, wrapping around Rhaegar's limbs, his neck, and around his head shutting his jaw before he let out a scream. Rhaegar's throat was being squeezed but he was still making noises. Panicking, Elia plunged him into the waters and she listened carefully to make sure the Kingsguards weren't breaking down the door. Then, she let Rhaegar go. She projected herself into the room just as he sat up, gasping for air. The door slammed open and Arthur Dayne ran in.

"Your Grace! Rhaegar!"

Rhaegar's strength sapped out of him and he was struggling not to slip back under the water until Arthur pulled him up and out of the tub.

"I can't breathe," Rhaegar gasped. He was weeping, Elia realised, and he was holding at his throat. 

"What happened?"

Rhaegar shook his head. He was white, his eyes were wide and panicked, he looked as though he saw death itself and it filled him with such terror that his body shook violently.

Oswell Whent came upon them and shouted for the maesters.

"Rhaegar," Arthur was saying, "you're safe. I have you."

Rhaegar didn't seem to hear him. Elia watched all of this while knowing she had to leave. Her body was growing weak and she still needed to speak with Varys' people before she returned to her children but she lingered for a little while and drank in the sight of Rhaegar struggling to breathe and looking around his chamber with terror.

Eventually Elia left. Jeyne led her down the kitchens. The girl's behaviour changed, no longer excitable and impatient, she now seemed scared. Every noise Elia made would either make Jeyne jump or flinch a little. Elia ignored that because the thought made her hurt.

Only the most senior of Varys' moles appeared in the room Elia climbed into. It was safer that way the woman, named Marlene, told Elia. Their conversation was as simple as Elia's talk with the guards. No one fought her or demanded to know where Varys was. They simply accepted the change in status quo. The only bit of disagreement was when Elia suggested three meals for the children but Marlene told her that they could only steal so much food before someone cared enough to notice. There was no steward currently to keep track of the stores but still they needed to be careful. Reluctantly, Elia agreed.

When she finally returned, she felt deeply tired. Even the bath Sara drew for her did nothing to help with all the aches and bruises but it did help her sleep. Just as Elia was going under, she realised she barely spent any time with her children.

In the morning, Elia breastfed Aegon herself and she cuddled Rhaenys until her daughter started squirming, itching to play with Aegon and Sara. Elia continued receiving reports from the little birds. The day passed by so peacefully that Elia could pretend she wasn't a prisoner doing terrible things to survive. She was only a mother raising her two little ones.

Of course this ended the next morning when Arthur Dayne came to her door.

"His Grace is ill," he told her simply. He didn't need to say anything else, it was clear he came to escort her.

What Elia would give to show her disdain openly. Instead she feigned concern before leaving to dress. It was going to be the first time some people see her so she needed to dress richly but not too richly, she was a woman visiting her sick husband after all. Stepping out of the apartments was odd though Elia had only lived there for less than a fortnight. _I have grown used to imprisonment_ , she realised and what an discomforting thought that was. 

Elia had an escort befitting a queen and as she made the long journey to the King's apartments, more than half the people bowed to her- the servants, the lords of the crownlands, knights, soldiers. Others simply did not know how to react to her, some acknowledged her, the rest only stared. The higher Elia climbed, the more she received the latter reaction. 

There were numerous people outside of the King's apartments: Tywin Lannister, Hoster Tully, the Small Council, the Kingsguards, Pycelle. Any man associated with them was also present. It was so crowded they could barely part to allow Elia through.

"Your Grace," Hoster sad bowing. 

He and his Tully men were the only ones to bow. Tywin merely looked at her with cold, green eyes. Jaime was present but he avoided Elia's eyes. 

"My lords, what ails the King?" She asked.

Pycelle cleared his throat. "His Grace fell unconscious while he was bathing. He had drowned and it seems he was having a nightmare before this happened. His body is rather weak, though I don't know what caused this symptom. It might be all the pressures of the war and the throne. I recommended to the Hand of the King, that the coronation should be postponed until the King recovers fully."

"I see," Elia only said. She walked past them into the apartments with her head held high.

Rhaegar was lying on his back staring up at the ceiling. He was pale and sweating and yet he was shivering. Elia closed the door behind.

"Rhaegar," she said.

Her voice snapped him out of it. "Elia," he said.

"What happened?"

"I died," Rhaegar said, "I died and I saw hell."

Elia went to him, careful to maintain a look of sympathy. Rhaegar lifted his arms, Elia slipped between them and let him embrace her. It was more to his benefit than hers as his shakings subsided.

"What did you see?" She whispered into his ear, wondering if he would tell her the truth.

"Everything," he answered. "Every horrible thing. Every bruise on my mother, every man I killed, every wound I have ever taken, everything my father ever told me, every time you went to the birthing bed... Lyanna... the baby... Summerhall burning.... I saw it all and I couldn't escape it. There was pain too, unspeakable pain I cannot describe, but the things I saw were worse.... Something grabbed me. Arthur thinks I imagined it, but it felt real and so terrible... it burned through me... suffocated me... held me under the water for eternity."

"How terrible," Elia said, "but it is over." She tried to pull back but Rhaegar's gripped tightened.

"Elia," he said. "Everything I saw happened for a reason, it had to."

"What are you saying?"

"There has to be a reason for everything," he replied loosening his grip on her. The fear in his eyes was receding and making way for a strong conviction that frightened Elia.

"Even now you still care about that prophecy," Elia said in disbelief.

"It's the reason I am even alive. My parents were made to marry so I could be born. Everything I ever did-"

"You can change," Elia cut in. "You don't have to live by these visions you keep having-"

"The gods-"

"Defy them. Tell them to send another prophet. Haven't you had enough of chasing prophecies? Aren't you exhausted? Don't you want to live for yourself?"

For a long moment, Rhaegar was tempted. "Who would I be then?"

"The King," Elia answered. "That's all you need to be. You can protect people that way."

The temptation was present until Rhaegar looked behind. When Elia looked back, she saw that he was looking at a painting of Aegon the Conqueror. She knew she had lost again before Rhaegar opened his mouth.

"I'm sorry," Rhaegar said. He sounded genuinely upset as though he too wished he could stop. "I only need to have the last child. Elia, look at me," he grabbed her face and turned, "I'll be the king you want. I'll raise an army for the children, I'll raise them properly to be good."

"You haven't done anything I wanted since the day we married," Elia told him. Rhaegar's grip wasn't as strong as it should be so she managed to forcefully pull away.

"Give me this," Rhaegar begged. He sat up with effort. "Give me this and it ends."

"It ends with my death," Elia said.

"I thought you were going to die twice before and you didn't."  
  
"You're willing to risk my life... of course you are," Elia said bitterly. "You are incapable of caring about my well-being."

"I care more than you realise."

 _I know more than you would like me to know._ "Rest Rhaegar, I have to go back to our children."  
  
Rhaegar grabbed her arm to stop her. "Take off your clothes."

"You're unwell."

"I cannot rest or have any peace of mind until I've had you."

Elia's heart was beating fast. She could do it again, use her powers on him until he went silent. _Will they postpone the coronation?_ Rhaegar seemed determined to make all his visions true, he won't allow it. _Unless he was too ill to move._ If she used it on him now, she'll have to use it every time he recovered and that will keep postponing her coronation. This limbo Elia has been living in had to end and soon.

"I told you, until after the coronation."

"Elia, I am your husband, you cannot deny me this," Rhaegar said. Then he softened. "I'll make it sweet."

There were too many people outside of the apartments. She could quiet Rhaegar down so that none of them hear him but he might remember something. Even if she was careful, they might blame her anyway- the Dornish woman who was present when Lyanna Stark became injured and when the King fell ill. Elia's vision was started to blur a little. She was just scared and anxious, that was all. It might be that no one would blame her, how would anyone realise that she had gifts that none of them could understand? Yet the looks on their faces as she walked past replayed in Elia's head. They were not her friends, far from it. Tywin wanted her dead, what would it matter if Elia was innocent? He could easily accuse her doing something to Rhaegar and have her locked up before his daughter arrived.... Was this a possibility or was this Elia's fears talking?

"In the morning," she said, wanting to buy time but even that idea fell apart in her head. Elia would spend the entire night dreading the morning and Rhaegar might gain enough health to have her more than once. Perhaps by then, the lords would leave and Elia could be a little less careful.

Rhaegar shook his head. "I can't sleep, I can't rest. I keep seeing all my mistakes... I have to do this," his voice grew hard, "and you will not refuse."

Elia could do worse than refuse but all her plans required that no one suspect her. Killing Lyanna was incredibly risky, it was a miracle that no one blamed Elia. More people will die, it was important that Elia will the last name attached to those deaths. 

Elia cannot use her powers boldly and Rhaegar won't let her leave. She turned away, still undecided, but the choice had already been made for Elia, hadn't it? Good wives obey their husbands, Elia made that promise in front of thousands. Sometimes Elia wished that she died on that day, at least then she would have been spared so much. 

As she undressed, she hoped the children on the other side of the wall weren't watching. If they were, they would realised that she was weak. Elia felt stupid the entire time, as though she was hurting herself when a bolder woman would have suffocated Rhaegar anyway and screamed for help, Tywin be damned. It's what Oberyn would have done. Elia walked to the other side of the bed wearing nothing. Her palms were sweating and she felt cold. Time slowed to crawl. She could do something, she was not Larra Rogare or Tyanna of the Tower. The risk still felt great... her children, she was all they had. Elia screwed her eyes shut. She knew if Aerys could see her now, he would laugh himself sick. He always thought she was too weak for King's Landing.

Rhaegar did as he promised, he tried to make it sweet for her but only one of them peaked.

"You were too loud," she complained. How would she walk past that group now that they knew what she had done? Elia hoped to avoid being seen as a viper and now they'll think her wanton even though Rhaegar was her husband. They'll laugh at her desperation and they will still expect him to marry another woman anyway. What are Dornish women for besides fucking?

Rhaegar rolled away. "They heard us fucking when we married," he reminded her while he was panting. Elia got up to leave. "Stay," he ordered. "Come here."

Elia couldn't stand to look at him but she did as he bid. Idly she wondered if Rhaegar remembered that Lyanna had just died. Sleep came absurdly easy, what a small mercy.

She woke up the next morning with Rhaegar's head on her bosom. He was awake. Elia used to enjoy their mornings together but now she wanted him as far away as humanly possible. Which was ridiculous, she told herself, a husband taking his bed rights was a normal part of every noble woman's life. Elia was not different. Just because she hated him doesn't change that. Elia told herself this a dozen times, she still felt the urge to cry.

"What do you see when you dream?" Rhaegar asked eventually.

 _Your bastard. Lyanna Stark's wide eyes._ "Your father," she said instead. Then out of anger, she added, "You."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter makes me nervous. I wanted to avoid the ending. In fact I was supposed to and one of the main sources of tension until the coronation was supposed to be Rhaegar's attempts to impregnate Elia again but just like Varys' spy network, I couldn't not think of the details. I wondered if I had written Elia as someone bold enough to use her powers while the most powerful men in Westeros were nearby and then I thought about how people would react to that. Of course not everyone, even people who hate Elia or want to take advantage of her fall from grace, will jump to 'witch!' (I mean Arthur didn't believe Rhaegar when he said he was attacked) but someone *could* and it *could* cause problems for Elia. As a writer, I get to decide if the characters *would* react that way but I couldn't get past the fact that Elia would think it's too big of a risk. Plus, like she tried to convince herself so she could feel better, this is quite normal and not the first time that this has happened to her. There's Elia's plans too. So Elia's anxiety and indecisiveness were something I was feeling as well. I'm worried about the reception this will get because it's such a sad thing to happen and Elia's not quite equipped to handle the trauma. 
> 
> It was such a heavy scene to write esp as Elia 'accepted' it and began to self loathing. I almost didn't trigger warn (like the Lyanna chapter) but the last thing I want to do is trigger someone. I don't know what else to say. I hope you all, well, not liked but thought it was a good chapter.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait.

Chapter 16

Elia left the bed, flinching slightly because his seed dried on her. 

"Stay," Rhaegar said.

In the morning light he looked incredibly sick and lean. Elia focused on that when she said, "I have to feed Aegon."

"I'll come later then."

"There is no need. I have no doubt my womb will quicken."

"It's only been hours, you can't know that."

Elia put on her smallclothes first. "Rhaenys was born nine months after our wedding-"

"Not exactly nine months," Rhaegar cut in.

"And Aegon? We only fucked once." Elia methodically wore her clothes, her hands surprisingly steady. "In a month, Pycelle will let you know."

"In a month, I'll be in Storm's End and who knows where else. I don't have time to waste and I'd rather I don't worry about this while I'm dealing with Baratheons and Eddard Stark," Rhaegar said. "Do not argue with me, Elia, I am not feeling too well and I am tired."

"You know," Elia began, "if you're too ill, you should not leave for Storm's End. Send Kevan Lannister instead-"

"I have accused to hiding while the war waged. I cannot hide from Robert's heirs."

"No one is asking you to. They will have to come to King's Landing to swear fealty to you anyway," Elia reminded him. "You'll get the chance to face them but if you leave King's Landing while your government is still unorganised... people's faith in you will continue shrinking. Honestly, I was surprised when you told me this. It sounds like something your father would do."

Rhaegar looked away. "My father...."

"He was rash, fixated on putting his enemies in their place and proving he was no coward."

"He hid in King's Landing for years-"

"You just won a war," Elia said softening her voice. She went to cup Rhaegar's face. "You don't have anything to prove except that you can govern. That is what people want after periods of unrest."

Rhaegar was uncertain but he put up no fight. Unless his visions told him to visit Storm's End, he had no strong conviction to go there. This realisation was strangely heartbreaking to Elia; she used to think he was open minded and willing to consider other options; she used to think he valued her input and perhaps she was very good at convincing him. Was anything in her marriage true? At the very least he didn't tell her he loved her, at least he was honest in that area.

She moved a small distance away and sat on the bed. "You have your Small Council and coronation to deal with."

"My coronation.... I thought the reason I was shown it was happening so soon was because I was leaving for Storm's End but if I'm staying...."

"You're not changing your mind, are you?" He cannot. Elia won't allow it.

"I cannot," Rhaegar replied. "Though I would have liked it if every lord attended it. I'm worried it would look poorly when compared to my father's and my grandfather's."

Elia replied, "Good coronations didn't make either of them beloved kings.... You have a crown you want to wear?"

"Yes, my father's."

"I suppose I'm to wear your mother's crown."

"She took her crown with her. I'll ask the steward to find Rhaenys' crown for you or Mariah."

Elia had to think about that. She was Dornish so it made sense that she chose a Dornish Queen's crown but Rhaenys was much more beloved than Mariah, even to this day. Yet Elia knew that certain people would scoff if she wore a crown belonging to Aegon the Conqueror's beloved wife, after all Rhaegar openly preferred another woman.

"I'll talk to him myself," she said. "Wait, I thought there was no steward." That was what Marlene said, Varys said the new guards were hired on Rhaegar's behalf by a steward but he didn't specify whose.

Rhaegar, who had closed his eyes opened them. "I was sure I... no that was Tywin's steward. He knows the Red Keep better than most, he can help you."

Elia was sure Wilson Hill would help her but if she went to him right now, the Lannisters would think she seduced Rhaegar into accepting her back, effectively stealing the throne from Cersei and Elia did not want to know what they will do as a result. She did not want them actively planning her downfall. If she clarified that Rhaegar wanted her to be his queen before their proposal, they would think she tricked them and made them look like fools. No, they cannot find out just yet.

"No, I'll find it myself. You need to fill the position Rhaegar, you need someone to organise the feast after you are crowned. Who knows how much food and wine has been wasted without someone to supervise it," Elia thought of a name. "Edric Smallwine would be an appropriate choice." 

"Who?"

"The Smallwines are a minor house and he is a second son with no real prospects," Elia answered. "He walks with a limp but he has a head for sums. Your father considered him for the position but ultimately dismissed him when he wouldn't grovel like the other lickspittles." Other names came to Elia as well. "Name Aron Santagar as Master of Arms. Willem Darry left for Dragonstone. He can teach Viserys there but by the time Aegon is old enough to start learning, Willem would be too old to teach him properly but Aron is not yet twenty. Your Small Council is more than half empty-"

"Elia, I want to rest."

"You can rest afterwards. Who else do you have in mind?"

"Kevan Lannister? I don't know in what position. I was willing to let Tywin decide since he knows his brother best."

Elia shook her head. "Too many Lannisters. Offer Mace Tyrell the position of Master of Law or Paxter Redwayne the position of Master of Ships. One of my brothers should be on the seat- Oberyn, as the Master of War. If anyone doubts his qualifications, tell them he joined a sellsword company and started his own. Eddard Stark will never stay in King's Landing even if he doesn't blame you for his sister's death." Rhaegar winced at that. "A Northerner would work just as well. Lord Manderly perhaps? Master of Law, after all they accused your father of breaking the law. You can acknowledge your father's wrongdoing without condemning him and subsequently yourself for fighting on his behalf."

"Those are good choices," Rhaegar replied. "Tywin suggested Mace Tyrell but the man is a fool and he sat out the war."

"And he will only receive a seat in the Small Council. I know he has a young daughter but I don't want Aegon marrying her."

Rhaegar looked amused. "Why would Aegon marry her? He will have two wives, his two sisters." Elia chose not to comment on that. Rhaegar furrowed his brow. "You're not bothered by that? I always thought you would be, Lyanna certainly was."

"I knew it was a possibility when I married you," Elia replied. "You should rest. You look sickly." As tempted as Elia was to hurt him again, she needed him standing and looking relatively strong when he placed a crown on her head. It was actually surprising to see the effects of her powers. She knew they caused tremendous pain but they seemed to have sapped Rhaegar of his strength. This meant she has to adjust her plans, effectively postponing them. Nothing was more important than Rhaegar's coronation. It provided Elia protection that merely being his wife could not.

"I can't," Rhaegar said. "I saw horrible things, Elia. Worse than any vision I've ever seen. I would rather watch a hundred men die than see that again," Rhaegar said. "Unless you're there. Then I can sleep a little easier. I don't know why. It is- was not the same with Lyanna. She had too much energy even in her sleep, as though she could not wait for the morning. It was not the same even my mother... when my father used to allow her to stay with me in the nursery, sometimes I just wouldn't sleep. I knew later that I was experiencing visions but as a child I was only frightened and she couldn't soothe me."

Oberyn used to say the same thing. Rhaenys has been put through a lot more than a child her age should and she slept soundly, rarely getting nightmares. Elia wondered if it was another gift of hers or if she was that soothing to her loved ones. At least Oberyn and her daughter loved her and would easily find comfort from her, Rhaegar would have seen her dead and he would moved on as quickly as he moved on from his beloved Lyanna. There was no reason he would feel better with her present unless there was magic involved.

"Try," she said feigning sympathy.

"Stay."

"My children will be missing me."

"I can come-"

"No," Elia said firmly, "you'll only cause Rhaenys distress. Your father hurt her, he scared her badly. She couldn't even stand to be in the same room as your mother because of that."

"She was fine when I last saw her."

"You weren't looking at her and you certainly weren't with her that night when she had a nightmare," Elia said. "You can ask Varys if you like."

Rhaegar sighed. "Varys is gone."

"Gone?" Elia asked surprised.

"He disappeared. Tywin sent men to search for him and he has promised a reward for any sighting," Rhaegar replied. "Varys was one of my father's supporters and I have not been subtle about my dislike for them but I spared him because he was useful. Why would he leave so suddenly and quietly?"

"Perhaps he has chosen to serve a different master," Elia said as though she just realised it. "Or perhaps one of your staunch supporters plotted against him. He also made many enemies. Whoever Varys pointed at, Aerys burnt."

"It is a possibility," Rhaegar agreed. "One of many problems I must deal with. Every day a new one crops up. The maesters say summer is ending and who knows how long autumn will last. So many fields of crop destroyed by the war."

"Your father's treasury is full. You can buy what grain you need and there is still enough time for a few more harvests," Elia said.

Rhaegar nodded. "Of course.... I can't seem to think properly."

"Sleep."

"Stay."

Elia didn't bother replying to that. "Did you tell anyone you're crowning me?"

"Should I? It seems obvious," Rhaegar replied.

Elia was relieved. "No, you don't have to. I was just wondering."

"I can announce it-"

"So soon after you've bedded me? No, I'll be accused of seduction. It's best you wait until the day of or you don't at all," Elia said. "The High Septon should be made aware, though. He'll need to prepare a sermon.... Rhaegar, don't tell them we made a deal. It will make me look desperate for the throne when I only want to keep my children safe."

Rhaegar had the grace to look a little ashamed. "If that is what you wish. You can wear my mother's dress if you want."

"Rhaella is too short and there is only a few days left, not enough time to properly alter it," Elia said. Besides, she can find her old dresses. "I'm no longer a prisoner. I can leave Maegor's Holdfast whenever I want."

"Yes," Rhaegar answered. "I'll send Kingsguards to guard you."

Elia winced. "I'd rather you don't. There are Dornishmen in the city, they'll guard me well enough."

Elia left after that though she was dreading meeting anyone who watched her walk in from the previous night. Fortunately only the Kingsguards and Kevan Lannister remained. When Elia saw him, she was relieved and it wasn't feigned at all.

"My lord, will you escort me back?" She asked him. She could hear Arthur shifting from one foot to another repeatedly.

"Yes," Kevan said holding out his arm.

The two walked out of the royal apartments together. Elia looked ahead and even let her eyes blur so she could avoid seeing people leering at her. 

Once they were a good distance away, she said in a low voice, "My lord, I was hoping you could help me."

"Oh?"

"I need moontea," Elia continued. "Discretely if you will. Otherwise people will say your son married me while I carry Rhaegar's third child."

Kevan exhaled. "My lady, are you sure?" He could not even hide his delight. "I will have it brought before the morning's end," he promised.

"Thank you," she said her voice hitching.

"What happened if you don't mind me asking?"

It was difficult to speak but still Elia forced out the words. "He wanted Lyanna Stark and settled for me."

"My lady, do not for a moment think you're a lesser woman than the northern girl. She was unrefined and did not have the sort of beauty singers would write about," he said.

"That is kind of you to say, my lord, but that is not what concerns me," she replied feeling stupidly emotional. "Though the king has not given any indication that he would like to reconcile, he seemed to feel he was owed husband rights." Elia took in a shuddering breath. She could physically Kevan growing awkward. "If I could ask for your help again."

"Please do. We are almost kin," Kevan replied.

"I would like it if Maester Pycelle gave the king a potion so he could sleep and should he call for me again, please dissuade or distract him," Elia said though she realised after she spoke that Rhaegar could simply tell them that she was his wife still. "Perhaps don't anger him, he is the king. Just make sure he doesn't need me. Please." How low she has sunk, begging a man plotting against her to protect her.

"Of course. Do you need anything else?"

 _Sunspear, I need Sunspear._ "No."

"It is heartening to see you embrace your future as Lady Lannister," Kevan said. "A foolish woman would have used the King's moment of weakness to cling to him."

Elia almost snorted. "I only want my children safe and cared for."

"And they will be, I give you my word."

They arrived at Maegor's Holdfast. Elia went in on her own. As soon as she closed the door to her bed chamber behind her, she felt a bone deep fatigue that was different from the other times she was tired. Why? She could not say. It was not the first time Rhaegar took his rights when she clearly didn't want him to but it rattled her. One moment he was at her mercy and in another Elia was defanged and Rhaegar didn't even know it. He wasn't defeating her or crushing her spirits, he was merely doing whatever he wanted, all in the name of prophecy. How humiliating, to go from a beloved princess of Dorne to this, a mere womb on legs. Elia was weeping and she didn't realise it. She heard the door opening.

"Mama," Aegon said. Rhaenys was standing behind him.

Even the sight of them couldn't stop the tears. "I'm alright, my loves. Go play. Don't let me make you sad."

They entered anyway, her little children, and they embraced her legs and looked up at her with wide innocent eyes.

"No, no, no," Rhaenys said wiping Elia's cheeks with her hands. "Don't cry."

Elia lifted Aegon and then Rhaenys onto her lap. She kissed them both wetly. "I love you," she said.

"Don't cry," Rhaenys repeated.

Aegon kissed her. "Love you," he said. Then he spoke so fast that Elia had problems understanding him.

"No, I'm not hungry. Thank you for asking."

"Want a nap?" He asked.

"A nap would be nice but I'd like to bathe first," she replied. "Can you do something for your mama? Can you play? When you play," Elia kissed Rhaenys, "you're happy and when you're happy, I'm happy."

They did as she asked. As Sara scrubbed her back, her children ran wild. Then they decided to play with toys though they could not decide which game at first. Once Rhaenys made up her mind, Aegon played her game. When Elia was done bathing, she sent one of the guards to bring her Dornishmen. She had much to think about- her dress for the coronation, her children's clothing, her plans, the little birds, Varys' moles. This new grief she was feeling will have to wait until Elia was safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Let me write a short dialogue scene between Rhaegar and Elia just to establish a few things  
> Me: *is shocked the scene lasts 1600+ words*
> 
> Anyway, this was a fun chapter to write. I got to have to Elia lie and manipulate Rhaegar and Kevan and I set the stage for the next few chapters. That's always good.
> 
> Btw I feel like I should clarify something that I didn't explain well in the comments. I didn't give Elia Rhoynar magic, she is not a water wizard. The reason for this is that I see the Rhoynar water wizards as nothing like waterbenders from Avatar. I see them as dozens of men and women standing along side the Rhoyne working together to control the currents and if there are enough of them, they can lift enormous amounts of water. Imo I can't see them using a bowl of water and turning it into ice shards and I can't see them whipping people with the water like they do in Avatar. I feel like Rhoynar magic like the other kinds of magic described in the books in that it requires a lot of effort and it drains the user in some ways. Water wizards could probably use the water to see the future or spy on people from long distances, there might even be illusions and such involved but they require a lot of water and power to properly do damage. Also those powers are more noticeable/harder to hide. Because of my perception of the way those powers work, I needed to make Elia something else since she is trapped indoors. She's like a mutant but still it takes a lot of effort to use her power and it is very taxing because it limits Elia and ensures the story doesn't end too quickly (and the audience doesn't think, 'why didn't she use it to kill Aerys and escape?') and because that's how I imagine GRRM would write it.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 17

She had a long day ahead of her. David and Larra arrived not long after she was done bathing. Elia had thrown herself at the both of them, clinging to them for an embarrassingly long time. They didn't seem to mind though. She quickly explained everything though she kept the detail of the little birds to herself. The last thing she wanted was for them to look at her differently. David's missing eye was healing nicely and his left hand troubled him little so when he offered to help, Elia did not feel too guilty accepting.

"Here is a list of names," she passed the note to him. It contained the names of the rest of Varys' moles in various positions around the city from the City Watch to the docks. "You can't go there yourself, you're too recognisable. Send any trustworthy man from the Red Mountains, the more they resemble the northerners the better."

"I have men I would trust with my life," David said.

Larra added, "Tell them to hide anything that could identify them. Someone would notice all the Dornishmen trans-versing the city but not random knights and soldiers."

Elia exhaled. "I was going to write notes but it's better there's no evidence. Tell your men to simply tell whoever they find that Varys left and I am taking over on his behalf. Whatever he was providing them, I will provide as long as they work for me," Elia said. "It's usually gold or protection or work.... I have wondered where he got the gold."

Larra replied, "He stole it obviously."

"But from whom? I would rather tap into that than be caught taking from the coffers," Elia said.

"The people he accused... what sort were they?" Larra asked.

"All sorts," Elia answered. "Why?"

Larra shrugged. "Once they died, someone had to take care of their assets and who will count all the gold to make sure nothing was missing?"

"Well, I'm not going to do that," Elia said, though she did not feel wholly confident that she wouldn't succumb to temptation.

After David left to complete his mission, Elia dictated a letter to her brothers. "... yours, Elia," she finished.

Larra looked over the letter critically. "It's not very informative."

"No, it isn't but that is the only way Pycelle will agree to send the letter," she said. "You've lost your ravens, you can't exactly borrow from the other armies.... Anyway my brothers' are intelligent, they'll be able to make connections between what I am saying and what I am not saying."

"Let's hope so," Larra said. 

She looked exhausted. The army has been on edge until recently expecting some sort of attack from the King's men or from Tywin's. After Lyanna Stark died, there was an uncertainty with how things would proceed so the Dornishmen remained vigilant, having night watches and trying to come up with a plan to counter any attack and protect her. It has clearly taken a toll. Elia felt guilty asking them of anything, after all they had sacrificed for her, but she could not do this alone.

After Larra left, Elia left too. Four Dornish knights were waiting outside of her door. They were her new guards and they followed her as she made her way through Maegor's Holdfast. She arrived at the apartments the hostages were being kept in.

"Stop," one of the guards said, "no one is allowed to-"

"Do you not know who this is?" The most senior of her new knights named Imtiaz barked. "This is Princess Elia Martell. Stand aside."

The two dozen guards either exchanged glances or immediately moved. The first guard said, "The Hand-"

"The King's *wife* will gain access."

"But-"

Imtiaz stepped forward menacingly. "What is your name? I'm sure His Grace will be interested to hear about this."

The guard bowed. "I'm sorry, Your Grace."

Elia walked ahead already tired of all the staring. She knew where Mary Bracken and Joanne Connington were and she invited herself in. The two women were standing at the balcony next to each other and they turned when Elia cleared her throat. Only one of the women recognised her.

"Princess Elia!" Mary exclaimed in surprise.

"My ladies," Elia said coolly. To Joanne she asked, "You are a Connington?"

"Yes, Your Grace," Joanne said. She was already more respectful than Jon Connington ever was.

"Then why are you here?"

Joanna looked down. "I married Cortnay Penrose and he had left me in charge of the supply train for King- Lord Robert. It passed through our lands which is why I was asked to ensure the line did not break."

"Can you give us a moment, Lady Joanne? I would like to speak to Lady Bracken alone?" Elia said.

Joanne had a panicked look on her face. "Your Grace, I... it was my duty to support my husband.... Robert Baratheon had no choice but to declare war and we were his vassals."

*That is a good argument,* Elia thought before filing it away. "I understand, my lady. I have not come here to judge you. I came here to speak to Lady Bracken. The matter of your... situation will be dealt with at a later time."

"When, Your Grace? We have been here for weeks without hearing a word?" Joanne asked despairing. "I have young children. I'm sure you understand my desperation."

Elia, who had spent months in limbo, felt that Joanne Connington could stand to wait a bit more. "Can you give us a moment," she repeated coldly. The rebels claimed to have a good cause but Elia's mother knew the Starks, the Baratheons, the Arryns and Tullys were planning something like this, a rebellion or a coup. After the day she had, Elia found herself lacking much sympathy.

Joanne curtsied and left. Mary watched her with hardened eyes. "Your Grace, is any reason a girl like me would gain your attention? I have been told that you were imprisoned like I am and that any day now your fate would be decided," Mary said bluntly. Elia found it strangely refreshing.

"You are the heir to House Bracken. Of course you would attract attention," Elia replied. "Attention from someone who would know of my situation and who would be allowed to walk past the guards."

"Oh. You know. I thought everyone would be turning a blind eye...."

Elia could not help by glare. Thus far she had been denied the ability to look her enemies in the eye and accuse them openly. "I know," she said with no little relish," that Richard Lonmouth has been visiting you. His lands border the Blackwoods and should the two of you join together in marriage, why House Bracken would gain an edge on the Blackwoods. It doesn't hurt that Lonmouth is one of the King's close friends."

Mary looked away to the city. "I was wrong. You don't know."

"My lady, lying to me won't-"

"Ser Richard has every intention to marry me for my lands," Mary said. "I have told him that my father intends for me to marry a household knight so that control over the Stone Hedge does not leave my hands. Richard does not care. He knows the King will grant him his request. I am a mere hostage. I cannot refuse him."

Elia stepped closer. "Lady Bracken...."

Mary turned to her. Her eyes were wet and they were angry. "I cannot refuse him," she said again. "If I do, it is as if I never even spoke."

Elia understood then. She understood it so well that her own eyes began welling up. "I see," she said hoarsely. "Is it just you or....?"

"The Mountain, he came days ago, very early after we arrived. I don't know what he did," Mary said. "We could only hear. Ser Myles put a stop to that but I doubt those women are overflowing with gratitude. The guards have said we might be executed as an example."

"It won't happen," she said. "The Great Lords have been pardoned. I'm sure Lord Hoster has not forgotten you-"

"He has," Mary said bitterly. "Me specifically. I know he has been here to see Elwyn Blackwood with his men-"

"Elwyn?"

"She was in the place the Mountain went. I don't know if he did anything to her but..." Mary stopped, overcome with emotion. "I was going to ask him to keep Tully men at my door but he might not even bother coming. He has an obvious preference for the Blackwoods, always ruling in their favour." Mary looked away again.

Elia, not being well versed in the politics of the Riverlands, stayed silent. She went to stand beside Mary and looked out to the city. The Dornish army and lords were in the city at this moment doing what they can to help Elia and she had been born with unique abilities that have protected her so far. Elia did not need to imagine what it would feel like to have neither; she spent a year recovering from Aegon's birth and Aerys' madness and was unable to do anything other than See. 

"I'll make it stop," Elia promised.

"Does the King intend to keep you as his queen?" Mary asked sceptically.

"Regardless of what he does, I'll make it stop," Elia answered.

On her way out, Elia ran into Joanne who immediately opened her mouth. "Stop," Elia said holding up her hand. "I will be back shortly. You can speak your peace then."

Firstly, Elia needed a crown, a dress for herself, and clothes for her children. She left Maegor's Holdfast bracing herself for people reacting to her walking around the Red Keep again. People stared, the servants stared as they worked; the knights stared as they passed by; the petty lords stared as they stood in groups; the lords started as they were surrounded by their vassals. Staring was not all that they did; the majority bowed to her. Lannister men bowed as though she was their lady, the rest bowed to her as a queen. The ones who did not bow either acknowledged her or they simply stared. There was little love for Elia though. The only time she felt accepted and loved was at her wedding and even then there were whispers about her health. *I didn't lose them, Aerys and Rhaegar didn't turn them against me. I never had them to begin with.* Though the constant scandals certainly did not help. What sort of woman would drive her husband to such madness, the Seven Kingdom probably thought. They were staring as though they had the answer. 

What did they know? None of them married a man obsessed with his dreams. They did not endure a powerful good father who was as paranoid as he was hateful. How many of them faced the possibility of burying their children? Elia had nothing to prove, oh but she had everything to prove. A stronger woman would take her children as far away from the Iron Throne as possible. Elia found Smallwine and asked to see the royal jewels.

"Here they are," Smallwine announced. The collection of crowns were lined up on a cloth of velvet.

"Queen Mariah's crown," Elia said without really looking. "Have it prepared for me."

Next, she went through her gowns that Aerys had confiscated. The sun had set by the time she made her choice, a deep red, highly rich dress that she only wore once- in Harrenhal. It was easy to find something Aegon could wear but Rhaenys' clothes were missing. Elia's hands trembled with rage when she realised that Aerys either threw them away or he burnt them.

"Find me good fabric in Targaryen colours, it has to be appropriate for a princess," Elia ordered Smallwine. "Take it to my rooms.... Remember, speak to no one of what we did today. Tell them I am merely preparing my luggage should anyone press you."

Smallwine was confused but obedient. "Yes, Your Grace."

As Elia was walking back, she was intercepted by Olyver Rykker. Her guards sprang into action until Rykker lifted his hands in submission. "Your Grace, might I have a word?"

"You might."

Rykker glanced at Imtiaz as he removed a note from his pocket. "You should read it."

Inside the note was a verse from the Seven Pointed Star. It said: 'The Maiden climbed up the snow covered mountains for sixteen days and sixteen nights. She emerged on the seventeen day with a falcon.' Was she supposed to interpret it? Elia looked up at Rykker and saw that he had an expectant look on his face so she read it again. That was when she realised that she recognised the writing.

"You wrote this?" She asked.

"No, Your Grace. Someone else wrote it but I volunteered to pass it along," Rykker replied.

"Who else? How many of you are there?"

"No more than seven, Your Grace," Rykker answered. "We were brought together by Lord Varys to help you in the matter of the annulment."

So it was not Varys alone playing games with her. "Name the others."

"I'm sorry, Your Grace, it is risk enough meeting with you so openly. The others want to wait until your position has been solid," he replied.

*What stalwart friends,* Elia thought. Rykker was brave enough to seek out a rebel in order to gain support from her and now he volunteered to reveal himself. The first of her so called friends. Clever.

"Thank you," she said sweetly. "I assume I shall be the meeting the rest of you soon."

"The Seven willing," Rykker said.

Elia forced herself to appear grateful before she moved on. 

She went back to Mary Bracken and Joanne Connington's apartments where the clothes for Rhaenys' dress were taken. Before she had left her apartments earlier that day, she told the two remaining guards to take the fabrics from Smallwine and to bring them here. 

"I'm assuming the two of you know how to sew?" Elia asked the two women after she explained what she wanted.

"I am adequate," Mary answered.

"I'm rather good," Joanne answered.

"We have two days to make something presentable for my little girl," Elia said. The two women looked at each other meaningfully. "I want the three headed dragon on the dress. Not many, just one in the middle. Can we finish before then?"

"We can try," Joanne said.

Mary seemed to be thinking. "Elwin is fast and she knows how to create animals better than most," she said grudgingly.

"Why don't I bring everything? The more hands the better," Elia said.

Imtiaz went and did that. Elia could hear the guards protesting it but none of them did anything to stop him. Soon the drawing room they were in was packed with women passing needles and yarn to each other. They knitted. Elia had created an outline for the three headed dragon and then handed the cloth to Elwyn, a small, thin girl with deft hands. The sewing circle reminded Elia of Sunspear and the early days in Dragonstone before everything became terrible. No one really spoke, some of the women were too nervous and others had too haunted eyes. They knitted well into the night. 

On her way back to her chambers, Imtiaz told her, "That Richard man came and he left when he was told you were inside."

The next day, Elia was back. The day was passing by peacefully but at noon, Imtiaz entered to give her some news.

"His Grace announced in the Throne Room that you were going to be crowned with him," Imtiaz said.

Elia, who was working on the sleeves, did not look up. "Can you bring me my daughter? We need to see how well this fits."

The dress was a little too large for her daughter but Rhaenys didn't seem to mind. The women cooed at her- all except Elwyn who had a faraway look in her eyes. Mary would look at her with pity and soon she was pestering the girl into eating.

"What happens after you're crowned?" Mary asked.

Elia removed a pin from Rhaenys' dress. Joanne had talked again about her actions during the war and the other women briefly explained their situation and how nothing seemed to be happening for them. Elia could not make big promises especially since Rhaegar's pardons weren't widely popular.

"Something," Elia replied truthfully.

* * *

  
Elia woke up on the morning of her coronation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you don't recognise Olyver Rykker, he was one of those men who were asking Hoster Tully to endear them to Elia.
> 
> Tell me what you think.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not beta read.

Chapter 18

She woke up early on the day of the coronation. It felt odd saying it in her head, just days ago she was effectively being sentenced to death by her husband. Then Varys suffocated to death beneath her and poor Lyanna fell. It felt longer than that. Had it not been for her children's young age, Elia would have thought she was trapped in that miserable castle for years, and now her ordeal was almost at an end. Elia dressed herself first with Sara's help. The gown she chose was rich but a little tight. It had been made before she gave birth to Aegon and it was meant to be worn at court when Elia was supposed to present the baby to her good father. That should have been Rhaegar's task but he disappeared. By the time the work commenced on the gown, the war had not yet begun. In fact, while Dragonstone was on edge, no one really thought anything big would come from Rhaegar's actions. Robert Baratheon had not even declared war or even made any noises of outrage. That task was carried by Brandon Stark to his doom. 

Elia had been dangerously thin and the tailor had to guess her size by the time she was well enough to get on a boat. Now a year and a half later, the dress was tight around Elia's chest making it a little hard to breathe. Perhaps that was an omen for her queenship; it might not fit her and it might be even more restrictive than her imprisonment. After all, she avoided scrutiny until Rhaegar changed his mind about the womb that was meant to carry his final child. Two days of the castle staring her, of people's eyes raking over her body, was more than Elia could bear. Maybe she was being melodramatic but Elia was beginning to think that she might prefer the apartments in Maegor's Holdfast to the royal apartments. What a discomforting thought.

The children wore their clothes easily. They found it to be interesting. Aegon was more used to velvet and silks than Rhaenys so her little girl ran her hands over her new dress. She kept asking Sara if it looked good and she kept blushing when the maid complemented her. The difficult part was making them understand that these clothes were different, they could not play in them. Aegon's hair was cut and combed. Elia plaited Rhaenys' hair before she worked on her own. There were no servants skilled at this task, Rhaella took the last ones. As for the ones before them... some had to face the fires and others had to deal with Aerys in his bed chamber whenever Rhaella had her moonblood. Elia could have asked for the hostages to act as her ladies but that would require Rhaegar's approval or Tywin's. Until Elia had a crown placed on her head, she had little authority of her own

So Elia and Sara prepared everything. Smallwine had brought some jewels the night before and a few vials of perfumed oils. There was no kohl or powder or rogue to be found in the castle and it was too late to buy any from the city's markets. Elia did not mind too much. She suspected that it would not look good if she entered the Sept with kohl on her eyes, not after septons and begging brothers were brutalised for her cause. This was a solemn ceremony for Elia. It could not be a moment of triump.

When she was ready, she took both children by the hand and walked out of the apartments. Her Dornish guards were present, as were all Dornish nobility, and the Kingsguards. Four of them: Arthur Dayne, Barristan Selmy, Oswell Whent and Jon Darry. Elia ignored them, passing her children to her cousin and Larra. They had taken the opportunity to bathe in one of her rooms while Elia knitted. Larra was wearing her armor. She had refused the dress she had been offered.

"I don't trust any of them," she told Elia. "If something were to happen on the way to the Sept, I want to be prepared."

There were Dornish soldiers and lowborn knights waiting at the bridge leading out of Maegor's Holdfast. As soon as they saw Elia, they bowed deeply to her and she could barely contain her love for her people. Aegon was staring at the new surrounding with such curiosity but his face scrunched up at the sight of all the new people. Soon he was hiding his face in Larra's neck. Rhaenys was much more interested in the people. When they bowed to her, she bowed back and giggled along when they laughed. 

In the Red Keep proper, there were even more people waiting. Hoster Tully and his men, an ill looking Jon Arryn, who Elia had not thought of in a while, even Kevan Lannister. The part was most surprising. Elia took the moment to nod at the man and she smiled a little when he bowed. He was no friend of hers but it gladdened her to see that the Lannisters were not yet jumping to attack. There were other nobility too, mostly from the Crownlands, some of who Elia recalled refusing to acknowledge her status just days before. Hedge knights, landed knights, a few ladies from small houses in the Crownlands. Far more people than Elia expected. Rather than feeling the overwhelming love when she first saw the Dornish on the bridge, Elia's heart started racing. They were watching her, she could not make a mistake while they were watching her.

Arthur Dayne and Oswell Whent led the way. Elia walked forward with her head held high. She was receiving bows but now was not the time to acknowledge these people. They must first see her above them before they see that she could be a friend. Still her honor guard was massive and though Elia's palms were sweating and she was worried about tripping on her dress, she also felt powerful; powerful in a different way than when she used her powers. 

There was a wheelhouse waiting, the same one Lyanna Stark arrived in. It was cleaned of all its dust and it was painted black and red. Elia, David and Larra entered the wheelhouse together. Rhaenys sat on her own facing Elia while Aegon held on to her. Outside of the castle gates, there was a gathering of septons and begging brothers. They were still bruised and a few had crutches and arm casts on. These ones Elia acknowledged from the safety of her wheelhouse. To her surprise, they started walking alongside. Two of them held burning incense in their hands and they wafted the smoke to all parts of the wheelhouse that they could reach. The rest of them started singing hymns.

The progress to the Sept was slow but it was important that the rest of the city saw her arrive at the Sept flanked by holy men. A year and a half ago, she was brought into the city inside a litter and even though, her arrival had not been announced ahead of time, people knew and they were quiet. A speculative quiet. Some of the women had called out to her to have courage, not all of them were genuine.

"Do you hear them?" Elia said. The city was alive just yards away. 

"They see the wheelhouse, Your Grace," David said. He closed the window so that no one could look in. People needed to only see her when she stepped out properly.

Cheers, loud cheers filled the air. It was not as loud as the day of her wedding but it was loud. The closer Elia got, the louder it was, until she could no longer hear her heart thumping in her eyes.

The holy men raised their voices. "Merciful Mother! Bind the sinful! Exalt the righteous!"

Soon sections of the crowd began shouting along. "Bless the meek, the dutiful, the most righteous of your earthly children!"

David was smiling. "My dear cousin, they love you."

Do they or do they love that the will of the gods was not subverted? "Where is Rhaegar?"

"He went to the Sept early. To avoid them," Larra answered. Then she grinned for the first time since she came into the city. "He is not their beloved prince anymore and he doesn't have the stomach to face it."

Rhaenys and Aegon were taken back by the sudden noises. While Rhaenys listened with rapt attention, Aegon squirmed. "Go back," he whined. He turned around and grabbed Elia's cheeks with his little hands. "Go back."

"My love, I know it is difficult but we can not go back just yet," Elia said.

Aegon scrunched up his face as though he was going to cry. "Go back," he repeated.

"What is he saying?" David asked.

"He doesn't like being around people," Elia explained. "He grew up seeing only a few people. At least Rhaenys knew my ladies for a good long while before we left them behind."

"That is not good for a crown prince," Larra said.

"He is not yet two," Elia replied. "He'll learn to accept it." She kissed Aegon and held him tightly.

The wheelhouse came to a stop. Elia shifted Aegon to her hip. Then they waited for the honor guard to enter the Sept first. After that, Larra went out first, Elia followed her. She stood at the steps and faced the city. Hundreds of thousands came, stretching out as far as Elia could see. The roar that came from them was deafening. Aegon's hold on Elia tightened and he pressed his face into her long, flowing hair. For a moment, curiosity got the better of him and he turned his head and looked at the massive crowd and the smallfolk in turn saw their future king for the first time. So many people started pulling faces at Aegon, others pressed their hands on their chest and cooed and squeed at him. That moment didn't last long but Aegon went back to hiding. Elia saw people laughing good naturedly, most looked charmed by her baby. He was a beautiful baby and still soft in the face. 

"Aegon! Prince Aegon!"

"Queen Elia!"

"Aegon! Our prince!"

"Prince Aegon!"

Elia turned back and held out a hand for Rhaenys. When her daughter emerged, they people screamed for her too. Rhaenys, not as shy as her brother, waved at them and giggled when some of the crowd started pulling faces again.

The holy men who had followed them bowed to Elia and she nodded at them. They left to join the crowd, climbing over the barrier that had been erected to keep the crowd at bay. Arthur and the Kingsguards dismounted from their horses and surrounded Elia as she made her way into the Sept.

"Many steps," Rhaenys complained as they climbed. "Please carry me mama."

"Just a few steps," Elia told her daughter. _Just a few more steps,_ she reminded herself.

The Sept was almost too full when she entered. More than half of Westeros' nobility was not yet present so there were more petty lords and lowborns than typical coronations. They were divided into two rows, the King's and the Queen's. Her husband's row was larger than her own but the differences were stark. She had her countrymen and the rebels' support. Her husband's men were royalists with a good number fighting for Aerys. Could they be swayed to her side? They are curious about her children, perhaps that could be a route to their loyalty. Rhaegar stood at the front as he had years ago when they wed. The Most Devout stood in a semi circle around the High Septon and his pulpit. Elia walked to the very front of her row with her cousin and her friend and her children. 

After anticipating this moment for a while, Elia was shocked at how fast the ceremony passed by. There was a sermon but it was shorter and punchier than any the High Septon had ever given. He preached of unity and forgiveness. Then towards the end, he spoke at length of the Parable of Richard, a man who had broken oaths and spent ninety nine years atoning. Elia, graciously, did not look at Rhaegar the entire time. Rhaegar was anointed to great applause from his men. The High Septon stepped back; the task of anointing the Queen belonged to the King.

Elia handed her children to her friends, pausing to kiss them. She walked forward deliberately and she curtsied to the High Septon first and to Rhaegar next. Carefully, she knelt at Rhaegar's feet. He had a speech prepared, a flowery speech, but Elia was not listening. Rhaegar's words did not matter anymore.

He placed Mariah Martell's crown on her head gently. "I proclaim you, Queen of the Seven Kingdoms!"

Elia was helped up and then she stood on the step as Rhaegar. The King's men were clapping, not Tywin though. He only had cold, angry eyes.

"Imagine the jubulation when in weeks' time we tell them you are with child again," Rhaegar whispered. 

Elia smiled thinking of the moontea Kevan Lannister had brought her. "I imagine it will be as joyous as the moment they saw the children," Elia said. "The smallfolk called Aegon, 'our prince,' when they saw him." Just like they used to call you, went unsaid. "Rhaenys charmed them. She seems suited to the court life." Elia beamed with pride. "They'll surpass us," she said. "It might be that years from now, we might be living in their shadows."

Rhaegar took too long to respond. "I'm sure Visenya will be beloved as well," he replied with some hesitation.

"Shall we leave?" She asked.

The people of King's Landing was just as happy to see Aegon and Rhaenys as before. Aegon was even brave enough to peak at them more than once. Rhaenys walked confidentially to the wheelhouse. Elia was relieved. The coronation had gone by without major issues. She found that the constant scrutiny was not as awful as she anticipated it was going to be. At least now they had a palatable reason to stare at her openly; they were seeing the King's heirs for the first time; they were watching her get crowned. These ae objectively good things. Elia did not feel shame, only fear of disappointing and that sort of fear was easier to swallow than the shame.

There was going to be a feast in a few hours time. More than enough time for Elia to dressed again. The number of people escorting her back was thankfully much less than the honor guard. Only David and Larra entered her home. With Sara's help, Elia got out of her dress. Her underdress was black which was easier to clean. Elia prepared several pieces of parchment in case she made mistakes and an inkwell. Then she began writing a letter. It's been years since she last saw a note written by Richard Lonmouth and her work at forging is not nearly as good as Oberyn but that was fine, the note did not need to be perfect. It only needed to pass as his.

Once Elia was done, she covered her hair with a cloth to protect it from ashes.

"Do make sure-"

"-that no one enters unexpectedly," Larra finished. "We know. Hurry."

Beth, the first child spy Elia met, was waiting to escort her. Silently and quickly, the two of them made their way through the tunnels before they arrived at their destination. Elia climbed up a set of rungs leading to a hearth, it was a much tighter fit than the one in her drawing room. Thankfully, the hearth she was not lit. Elia managed to pull herself up. The chamber she was in was empty but not for long as Richard Lonmouth walked in. He was undressing as he walked, not even seeing her. 

When Lonmouth's back was turned to her, Elia unleashed her power. One of his arm was forced to his side while the other was forcibly raised. He was writhing wildly and would have screamed had Elia not had a tight grip on his neck. She saw one of his knives on his bed, she unsheathed it and levitated it to his raised hand. One large tendril forced his fingers to wrap around the knife. Elia forced him to his knees. Then she brought the hand with the knife to his neck, bending the arm awkwardly. Lonmouth tried to throw himself back to escape the knife but Elia held him up. Then she forced his hand to bury the sharp edge of the knife into his neck and she pulled until the knife cut to the other side of the neck. Blood spurted out like a fountain. The spray caught in the light of the morning sun. It looked vibrant and it was why Elia could not face Lonmouth, letting Monmouth know that she was the one killing him as much as she wanted to. Elia saw him in the Sept, he was unenthusiastic at her coronation, no doubt angry that she stopped him from seeing Mary Bracken. He was not a man who could be counted on to be an ally and needed to be taken care of quickly. 

Blood poured profusely as Elia arranged his body. She waited until he stopped moving to plant the false suicide note. Some of the pooling blood got on the paper but that was fine as the black ink was still visible and it would distract anyone who read it from the differences between Lonmouth's real handwriting and Elia's imitation.

Elia returned to her drawing room. She discarded the underdress, bathed and dressed in a different gown. Then as she was leaving for the feast, a courtier came running, breathless with news.

"Richard Lonmouth is dead!" The man announced. "By his own hand."

Elia gasped. "Oh no," she said.

Behind her, Larra barely concealed her snort.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is an important chapter. The next one is going to be difficult for me to write, not emotionally but in terms of skill. 
> 
> Elia has reached the promised land. All her problems aren't going to disappear but she'll finally have leg room.
> 
> I can't believe that this fic is 50,000 words long. I only expected it to be 20,000 words long and we're not at the end of the fic yet.
> 
> Tell me what you think

**Author's Note:**

> This might end up being my biggest fic but I'm just guessing since for once I don't have an outline. Updates will be slow. I'm working on so many WIPs simultaneously. 
> 
> Tell me what you think


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